NFPA And Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Partner On Fire Sprinkler Initiative To Address USA’s Rising Home Fire Cases

Home fires claim the lives of seven people every day in the United States of America. Home fire sprinklers can help eliminate these tragedies, but legislative barriers and a general unawareness of this technology have prevented its widespread use in new homes.

America’s fire service and safety advocates should be able to take action in unison, so as to raise national awareness of a fire sprinkler’s life-saving ability.

Fire Sprinkler Initiative

Fire Sprinkler Initiative, a collaboration awareness project of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) are initiating Home Fire Sprinkler Week from May 19 - May 25, 2019.

This project tasks safety advocates across the U.S. with hosting simultaneous events, promoting home fire sprinklers.

Raising awareness on impact of fire sprinklers

While raising awareness of the home fire problem, these events will also underscore the impact of 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. The aim is to have the fire service and other safety advocates host at least one sprinkler-related activity throughout the same week in all 50 states.

“The alarming number of home fire deaths and injuries each year should be on the radar of every decision maker and member of the media,” said NFPA Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy, and HFSC President, Lorraine Carli.

Tackling rising cases of home fires in the US

Lorraine adds, “Through these events, we hope to illuminate the fire problem and its solution on a national scale. Fire sprinklers have been a U.S. model building code requirement since 2009, yet challenges to its adoption still exist. Taking action collectively will send a powerful message that fire sprinklers are widely accepted and must be embraced in every state.”

It is expected that similar events will also take place in Canada and United Kingdom. Some possible activities at the event will include, hosting a side-by-side live burn/fire sprinkler demonstration or conducting a fire department open house, featuring fire sprinkler information and sprinkler riser display.

Key facts:

• The risk of dying in a home fire decreases by about 85 percent, if sprinklers are present.
• When sprinklers were present, fires were kept to the room of origin 97 percent of the time.
• In the event of a fire, typically only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire, leaving the rest of the house dry and secure. Roughly 89 percent of the time, just one sprinkler operates.