Important information - Model response to sprinkler opposition

The fight for fire sprinkler requirements in one- and two-family homes and townhomes rages on. It is very important to be prepared to answer whatever questions are asked during code or legislative hearings and to dispel myths.

This post will provide answers to many questions and clears up misinformation most recently raised by the opposition.

We also need your help identifying other issues raised by opponents. Please remain vigilant and feel free to contact us for additional information.

Home fire is a major problem in the U.S.

Fire in the home poses one of the biggest threats to the people in every community. Nearly 3,000 people per year die in U.S. home fires. Congressional hearings have been scheduled and pandemics have been declared on the basis of much smaller death tolls than the home fire death toll in one year.  Clearly, most people do not believe that we are safe enough or that current death tolls from home fires are acceptable.

Smoke alarms and sprinklers both save lives from fire

Home fire sprinklers are a proven way to protect lives and property against fires at home. These life-saving systems respond quickly and effectively to the presence of a nearby fire. When sprinklers are present, they save lives. Sprinkler systems provide additional benefits, on top of the benefits already provided by smoke alarms.

• Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 50 percent
• If you have a reported fire in your home, the risk of dying decreases by about 80 percent wihen sprinklers are present

Beware misleading percentages on survival and death

Fire sprinkler opponents have been using a statistic of 99.45 percent to illustrate the effectiveness of smoke alarms in reducing home fire deaths. This NFPA statistic estimates the likelihood of surviving a home fire when a working smoke alarm is present. Taken completely out of context, a number like 99.45% sounds very high. But consider this:

 

• The total home fire death toll of roughly 3,000 deaths a year occurs in roughly 400,000 reported home fires a year. Therefore, the likelihood of surviving a home fire is over 99% without regard to the presence of smoke alarms or any other fire safety provisions.  Does that mean 3,000 deaths are acceptable?  Most people would say no.

   

Important comparisons to the above

• Each year, there are an estimated 12,000 deaths due to falls in homes and an estimated 11 million fall injuries in the home.  The likelihood of surviving a fall is 99.9%. Does that mean 12,000 deaths are acceptable? Most people would say no.

   

• Each year, there are an estimated 37,000 deaths due to motor vehicle crashes and an estimated 6 million reported motor vehicle crashes. The likelihood of surviving a motor vehicle crash is 99.4%. Does that mean 37,000 deaths are acceptable? Most people would say no.

   

• Each year, 2.4 million people die of any cause in the country compared to a total U.S. resident population of 300 million. The likelihood of surviving every hazard, threat and illness for a year is 99.2%. Does that mean 2.4 million deaths are acceptable to the sprinkler opponents – that nothing at all should be done to protect Americans from anything, especially when technology exists that could save lives? Most people would say no.

Sprinklers do more than save lives

Sprinklers do more than save lives; they also protect property from destruction by fire. In many situations, that means a family that survived a fire will also have a place to live and enough resources to continue living their lives as they did before.  “Saving lives” means more than just preventing deaths.  Just as there is no other fire safety technology or program that produces as great a reduction in risk of death as sprinklers, there also is no other fire safety technology or program that produces as great a reduction in property loss per fire as sprinklers.

• People in homes with sprinklers are protected against significant property loss - sprinklers reduce the average property loss by 71 percent per home fire

The national consensus is in favor of sprinklers

All model safety codes now require the use of home fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes. Model codes are the specific expression of the shared values of Americans. No one interest is allowed to dominate all model codes, and no one interest should be allowed to dictate to people what constitutes acceptable safety for them and their families

These requirements offer the highest level of safety to protect the people of your community.

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

   

• Roughly 90% of the time, fires are contained by the operation of just one sprinkler.
• Each individual sprinkler is designed and calibrated to go off when it senses a significant heat change.
• Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire.

   

Beware misleading percentages on effectiveness and reliability 

It is important to recognize that home fire sprinkler systems are designed to activate to the heat of a fire that grows large enough for the temperature to rise to 135º-160º F. They are not activated by smoke, nor should they be.

 

Opponents have cited some low percentages for what they call fire sprinkler efficiency. Such statistics improperly include as failures fires that do not produce enough heat to activate the sprinkler system, possibly because they were extinguished before heat rises to the point of activating the sprinkler system.  In home fires deemed large enough to activate an operational sprinkler, wet-pipe sprinklers operated and were effective in 98% of reported fires.

 

Beware false claims made for newer homes

Opponents of residential fire sprinkler systems like to boast that newer homes are safer homes and that the fire and death problem is limited to older homes. This statistical claim evaporates if you adjust for the higher risk characteristics (e.g., lower income, less education) found on average in the occupants of older homes. But in fact, newer homes are also more likely to include a threat to firefighters in the form of lightweight construction. Lightweight construction has been variously estimated to be used in a half to two-thirds of all new wood one- and two-family homes. Sprinklers can offset the increased dangers posed by lightweight construction and create a safer fire environment for firefighters to operate.

 

Home fire sprinklers are cost effective.

A national perspective on the cost of installing residential fire sprinklers is examined in the report, Home Fire Sprinkler Cost Assessment, released by the Fire Protection Research Foundation, an affiliate of NFPA. According to the report, the cost of installing sprinkler systems averaged $1.61 per sprinklered square foot. This cost includes all costs to the builder associated with the system including design, installation, and other costs such as; permits, additional equipment, increased tap and water meter fees – to the extent that they apply. 

 

Additionally, in a recent study, Comparative Analysis of Housing Cost and Supply Impacts of Sprinkler Ordinances at the Community Level, conducted by Newport Partners for NFPA and just released, it is reported that “the following analysis did not reveal that the enactment of sprinkler ordinances caused any detrimental effects on housing supply and costs”.  This report clearly indicates there is no merit to the claim that a residential sprinkler requirement creates an unfair market advantage for an area that does not have a requirement, as claimed by sprinkler opponents.

Some Habitat for Humanity chapters have spoken out against home fire sprinkler requirements because they are concerned about housing affordability. In communities across North Carolina, Habitat for Humanity is providing more than just secure shelter to their new homeowners. Thanks to an ambitious, volunteer-driven project first begun in the state in 1996, some 250 Habitat homes have been built with an automatic fire sprinkler system installed. “Since 1996, no Habitat home in the County has been built without a fire sprinkler system installed,” says Pinehurst Deputy Chief Floyd Fritz. Other communities in the country have duplicated these programs very effectively. There is no reason why the same cannot be accomplished elsewhere. When incentives are added to fire sprinkler requirements they may help to offset the some of the cost to developers and builders. In areas where sprinkler systems have been required for years, the cost is substantially lowered by market competition and achievement of economies of scale.

 

Home fire sprinklers - the right answer

Sprinkler systems have been protecting many lives throughout the Unites States. Reducing the fire death toll would be achieved by adopting mandatory requirements of fire sprinklers in all new homes.

Maria Figueroa

Comments

[Keith G.]

I do not support home fire sprinklers. Anyone who is against this mandate is made out to be someone who doesn't care about human life and property. As a volunteer firefighter myself, that couldn't be further from the truth. I, myself don't need this in my home nor should I be forced to have it installed. What's next? A mandatory home storz connection, a 1000gal exterior water tank..? In my experience those would be helpful too but you have to draw a line somewhere. If anything needs to be changed it's the use of truss systems and wooden i-beams.
Firematically yours,
Keith

[Jon Paul]

We have a domestic sprinkler ordinance in my community and have seen no drop in construction permits for new one and two-family housing because of it. Some systems such as quench/wisbro systems are even less expensive than traditional 13D systems