Home fire sprinklers Coalition video is about to experience two fires, in two rooms set up with identical furnishings. The rooms are the same size; same windows and doors. The fires in both rooms were ignited within combustible materials commonly found in typical living rooms. One room is protected with a home fire sprinkler. The other is not.
A house fire can become deadly in two minutes without fire sprinklers. The fire burns hot and fast. Look around the room and see the toxic smoke spread. Nothing stops the fire, so it builds strength, generating heat and smoke until flashover, the point at which everything in the room ignites. No one can survive a flashover. Look around the room after the fire is out. Everything is destroyed by the extreme heat and smoke. There would be only seconds for the family to escape a fire before a flashover. The destruction in this room makes it clear: that the home is uninhabitable and a complete loss.
In the room with a fire sprinkler, find the sprinkler in the ceiling. At 37 seconds, heat from the fire activates the sprinkler, controlling the fire and preventing it from becoming deadly. After the sprinkler is activated, there is very little damage. The room is wet but intact. If a family was sleeping, the sprinkler would have given them time to safely escape. The fire is confined to the room of origin and the family would likely be able to stay in the home or move back in a few days.