Pelham Fire Department

Sprinklers - Fact Sheet

Home fire sprinklers protect lives and property against fires.

Home sprinkler systems respond quickly to reduce the heat, flames and smoke from a fire, giving families valuable time to get to safety.

 

• Despite the effectiveness of smoke alarms in saving lives, approximately 3,000 people in the United States die in home fires each year, accounting for 80 percent of all fire deaths.
• By comparison, an average 26 people in Ontario die in residential fires annually. Based on population percentages, that is 200 times as many deaths as in the USA.
• In reported home fires, the risk of dying decreases by 80 percent when sprinklers are present.
• People in homes with sprinklers are protected against significant property loss – sprinklers reduce the average property loss by 74 percent per fire.
• Any resulting water damage from the sprinkler will be much less severe than the damage caused by water from fire-fighting hose lines. On average, home fire sprinkler systems use about eight times less water than fire hoses.

 

Home fire sprinklers are affordable.

The Fire Protection Research Foundation recently issued the Home Fire Sprinkler Cost Assessment report, which demonstrated that the cost of installing home fire sprinklers averages US$1.61 per square foot for new construction.

 

• Many people pay similar amounts for upgrades such as carpeting, stone driveways or whirlpool baths.
• Homes with fire sprinklers are selling faster than those without fire sprinkler systems.
• Installation of home sprinklers can help residents cut homeowner insurance premiums and help qualify homes for tax rebates.

 

Home fire sprinklers act independently from smoke alarms.

Each individual sprinkler is designed and calibrated to go off when it senses a significant heat change.

 

• Home fire sprinklers do not operate in response to smoke, burned toast, cooking vapours, steam or an activating smoke alarm.
• Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire.
• Roughly 90 percent of the time, just one sprinkler operates.

 

For this and more information on residential sprinklers, go to www.firesprinklerinitiative.org

A video by State Farm on fire sprinklers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUYkvjqm1f0

The Environmental Impact of Automatic Fire Sprinklers
FM Global and the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, April 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtBafQdE9AM&feature=player_embedded