Home Safety
Home Fire Sprinklers
When a member of your community is killed in a home fire, it is important to let others know how they can prevent a similar tragedy. As you continue to report on the fire, the U.S. Fire Administration encourages you to remind your audience that many fire deaths and injuries are preventable.
More than 4,000 Americans die each year in fires and more than 20,000 are injured. Many of them might be alive today if they had only had the information they needed to avoid a disaster. The following life-saving information could make a big difference to your audience. By incorporating it in your story now, while the moment is still fresh, you could help save a life.
Did you know?
The combination of working smoke alarms and home fire sprinklers reduces the likelihood of death from fire by more than 80 percent.
Home Fire Sprinklers SAVE LIVES!
The most effective fire loss prevention and reduction measure for both life and property is the installation and maintenance of home fire sprinklers. Fire sprinkler systems offer the optimum level of fire safety because they control the fire immediately in the room of origin, help limit the spread of fire, and often extinguish it before the fire department arrives.
What do home fire sprinklers do?
Home fire sprinklers automatically contain a fire, preventing it from spreading. Only the sprinklers in the fire area are activated.
Are home fire sprinklers costly and difficult to install?
Home fire sprinklers use narrow piping that requires minimal water pressure to move water from the tap to the source of a fire. Home sprinklers require less water to operate than those in industrial or commercial establishments. In general, the cost of installing sprinklers in a new home is approximately 1 percent of the total cost of the home. Older homes can be retrofitted with sprinklers, but the cost may be higher than when installing them during the new home construction process.
Advantages for the homeowner.
Sprinklers can put out or contain a fire even before the fire department arrives. This results in less overall damage to property from smoke, fire, and water than if the fire had continued unabated or if firefighting hoselines had been used.
Home sprinklers are smaller than commercial and industrial sprinklers, and they can be aesthetically coordinated with any room décor.
Families with children, senior citizens, and physically impaired members have special fire protection needs. Home sprinkler systems provide added protection for these people.
For more information on the U.S. Fire Administration's Public Education Campaigns or to speak with a USFA spokesperson, please call 202-842-3600. Also visit www.usfa.fema.gov or www.firesafety.gov for additional information on fire safety.
Don't be taken in by sprinkler myths
There are many myths about home fire sprinkler systems. Here's the truth: Sprinklers slow a fire's dangerous growth and spread, giving you and your family the time you need to safely escape and call the fire department. Although their primary role is life safety, sprinklers also protect property and your treasured belongings.
Because they react while the fire is still small, sprinklers dramatically limit the fire and smoke damage to a home. As a result of this quick response, sprinklers also put far less water on the fire, typically only 25 gallons of water per minute. When firefighters arrive several minutes after a fire has grown and spread, they typically have to put 10 times that amount of water on the fire, pumped through powerful hoses. The result is far greater damage.
Sprinklers do not activate in response to smoke; only the high temperature of a fire will trigger the sprinkler to open. Despite what you may have seen in movies, sprinklers do not all go off at once, and burned toast or cigar smoke will not trigger a sprinkler. Home fire sprinklers can be concealed under ceiling plates and painted by the manufacturer to blend in with your décor.
Residential fire sprinkler systems are affordable. According to the nonprofit Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC), sprinklers add about 1-1.5% to the overall cost of new construction for a system that can save your loved ones and irreplaceable family treasures. That's often less money than you would pay to upgrade your kitchen cabinets or carpeting. The cost of installation is higher when installing sprinklers as part of a renovation project.
Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems
U..S.Fire Adminstration
