NFPA and HFSC address North America's home fire problem

QUINCY, Mass. – In the U.S., home fires claim the lives of seven people each day and injure 13,000 annually. Home fire sprinklers can help eliminate these tragedies, but legislative barriers and a general unawareness of this technology have prevented its use in new homes. Safety advocates across North America will be taking collective action to raise awareness of these challenges and a fire sprinkler's life-saving capacity.

The National Fire Protection Association's Fire Sprinkler Initiative and the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition are initiating Home Fire Sprinkler Day, Saturday, May 19. The project tasks safety advocates with hosting events that promote home fire sprinklers. While raising awareness of the home fire problem, these events will also underscore the life-saving impact of fire sprinklers and legislative barriers to its use. Research has proven that home fire sprinklers can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 80 percent.

"The alarming number of home fire deaths and injuries each year should serve as a call to action," Lorraine Carli, NFPA's vice president of outreach and advocacy and HFSC's president, said. "On Home Fire Sprinkler Day, we hope to illuminate the fire problem and its solution. Taking collective action will send a powerful message that fire sprinklers are widely accepted and must be required in all new homes."

Safety advocates in the U.S. and Canada will be hosting a variety of events, including side-by-side fire sprinkler demonstrations and fire department open houses featuring fire sprinkler information.

While there won't be any events in Southern California, residents can still take the time to learn about new-home dangers, get the facts about lifesaving sprinkler technology and make progress against the home fire problem.

Consider these facts about home fire sprinklers.

Since 2009, the installation of fire sprinklers has been required for new construction of homes by all U.S. model building codes. California, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and hundreds of U.S. communities have adopted this requirement. Challenges to adoption exist in many other states.

Fire sprinkler installation in homes lags behind installation in other properties with lower fire death rates, such as schools, hospitals and hotels. They lag in part due to myths, confusion and opposition by some groups.

Modern home fire sprinklers are inexpensive to install at about $1.35 per sprinklered square foot, nationally, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Fire sprinklers reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by 80 percent and reduce the risk of property damage by 70 percent, according to the association.

Because the sprinkler responds to the fire automatically and while the fire is still small, it controls the fire until the fire department arrives, slowing the spread of heat and poisonous smoke.

Home fire sprinklers give residents more time to escape a fire safely, which prevents injuries and saves lives.

The sprinkler controls fire damage and confines it, which protects lives as well as surrounding rooms, limiting property damage.

Responding firefighters work in far less dangerous conditions when a home fire is controlled by a fire sprinkler.

Fire sprinklers are usually supplied by the household water main. A tank and pump can be used where needed in any climate. As with other plumbing, the piping is hidden behind walls and ceilings. Sprinkler covers can be used to conceal sprinklers.

Home fire sprinklers operate individually. In a fire, the sprinkler closest to it activates. In the vast majority of home fires just one sprinkler is needed to control the flames.

Sprinklers are activated by the high temperature of a fire – typically between 135-165°F. Cooking fumes or signaling smoke alarms cannot activate sprinklers.

Home fire sprinklers are designed to flow between 10-25 gallons of water per minute, which is 10-15 times less water flow than fire department hoses, with far less pressure.

For more information about the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, visit http://www.homefiresprinkler.org.

For more information about the National Fire Protection Association, visit http://www.nfpa.org.

All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed online for free at http://www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.