Focus on Fire Safety: Residential Fire Sprinklers Save Lives!

Schools, office buildings, factories, and other commercial buildings have benefited from fire protection sprinkler systems for over a century. But what about our homes? Millions of Americans have installed smoke alarms in their homes in the past few decades, but a smoke alarm can only alert the occupants to a fire in the house…it cannot contain or extinguish a fire. Residential sprinkler systems can!

How Sprinklers Can Help

Studies conducted by the U.S. Fire Administration and the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have concluded that:

• When fire sprinklers alone are installed in a residence, the chances of dying in a fire are reduced by 69%, when compared to a residence without sprinklers.
• When smoke alarms alone are installed in a residence, a reduction in the death rate of 63% can be expected, when compared to a residence without smoke alarms.
• When both smoke alarms and fire sprinklers are present in a home, the risk of dying in a fire is reduced by 82%, when compared to a residence without either.

To find out more about residential fire sprinklers and the affordable fire protection they provide, please visit the USFA Web site.