NFPA's "Fire Sprinkler Initiative: Bringing Safety Home" provides resources for the fire service and other sprinkler advocates who want to demonstrate the need for home fire sprinklers in their community.
NFPA's Fire Sprinkler Initiative: Bringing Safety Home, provides resources for the fire service and other sprinkler advocates who want to demonstrate the need for home fire sprinklers in their community.
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The mission of the international nonprofit NFPA, established in 1896, is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education.
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Scott Somers is Vice Mayor of the City of Mesa, Arizona and a 17-year veteran of the Phoenix Fire Department. The state prohibits local jurisdictions from requiring fire sprinklers in homes. The City of Mesa has taken an innovative approach to sprinkler advocacy by using federal grants to install home fire sprinklers in low- and moderate-income homes - designed to stabilize troubled neighborhoods and stimulate economic growth.
Video: Scott Somers explains how federal program dollars helped fund sprinkler effort.
Mr. Somers spoke about how Mesa is using federal money for sprinkler projects designed to stabilize troubled neighborhoods and stimulate economic growth in a recent issue of NFPA Journal®. Read the full article.
Uponor makes available a video highlighting ease of installation and benefits that an NFPA 13D multipurpose fire safety system offers.
The video features Uponor's AquaSAFE Fire Sprinkler System, however; any multipurpose system that integrates with a home's cold water plumbing provides a cost effective, efficient alternative to stand alone systems.
The Fire Protection Research Foundation's Home Fire Sprinkler Cost Assessment study found that in communities where multipurpose systems are used installation costs in dollars per sprinklered square foot were lower, on average.
During the Research Foundation’s Fire Safety Design and Sustainable Buildings Symposium in Chicago, Sean DeCrane, of the Cleveland Fire Department, gave his perspective on the hazards of sustainable buildings. He discussed the importance of training for the fire service because of the new developments in the construction industry. Traditional stick built houses with heavy upholstered furniture is a thing of the past.
Today, fire fighters are faced with engineered, lightweight lumber, expanded foam materials, and photovoltaic panels on roofs. Many of these sustainable materials contribute to faster burning fires and buildings that fail much quicker. Not only are fire fighters facing new hazards inside of buildings, but they are facing challenges getting to the building itself. Green rating systems give credits for reducing paved surfaces, increasing landscaping and reducing traffic. This makes for beautiful cities that save energy, however, it creates literal road blocks for fire fighter vehicles. Every extra minute it takes the fire service to navigate around narrow roadways and traffic calming devices is another minute the fire has to grow and another minute someone might be waiting for rescue inside that building.
Mr. DeCrane argued that sprinklers and training are two of the best things we can do for our fire service. Check out this video that Mr.DeCrane shared from UL. It compares a fire in a legacy room (think grandma’s upholstered furniture and heavy fabric curtains) to a modern room (one that was purchased right off the shelf at one of today’s furniture stores).
In 1986, NFPA created the award winning video - Fire Power - which takes a firsthand look at the deadly dynamics of fire from ignition to full room involvement. At every twist and turn of the video, viewers get a bird's-eye view of fire's path of destruction and are astonished at how rapidly smoke and flames from a small fire envelop a home, making escape virtually impossible.
Much has changed since Fire Power was produced. What has not changed is the awesome power of fire. For the 25th anniversary, NFPA revisits a few of the original scenes with the original narrator, Boston news reporter Jack Harper, to talk about the dramatic footage and the role home fire prinklers play in saving lives and property.
To answer common questions about sprinkler technology and provide detailed information about its life-safety and environmental benefits, the nonprofit Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) has developed Understanding Water Supply for Home Fire Sprinkler Systems, funded by a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant.
“There has been a clear and growing need for better understanding about fire sprinkler systems in homes and water supply for several years,” says HFSC President Gary Keith. “In particular, misinformation within the water industry results in unnecessary and costly sprinkler add-ons and unfair fees that penalize homeowners who just want greater fire protection for their families.”
“These are great turnkey tools for the fire service, water suppliers and local officials,” says HFSC communications manager Peg Paul. “We worked with the American Water Works Association to ensure that our materials are timely and address the questions and issues most relevant to their industry.”
Understanding Water Supply for Home Fire Sprinkler Systems includes a comprehensive DVD video that provides an overview of residential sprinkler systems and a full explanation of water supply, connections and usage. It features several local fire and water officials who share their own experience with the systems locally. A detailed brochure complements the information within the DVD.
Princella Lee Bridges of Greenville, SC, and NFPA President Jim Shannon spoke about the value of home fire sprinklers at a recent presentation at NFPA headquarters.
On what began as a normal evening in March of 1992, a quick turn of events and the blur of maternal instinct and panic changed Princella Lee Bridge’s life forever. Princella was busy with the evening’s chores of making dinner and helping her daughter with homework when her son ran into the room to tell her the home’s heating unit was on fire. Princella went for the fire extinguisher, but quickly realized that it was time to get her family out of the burning house. Using their escape plan, the family sought safety outside.
“My son and my dad went out, and so did I. And I just assumed that my daughter went with us,” Princella says. “That’s not what happened.”
When Princella, an operating room nurse and Desert Storm veteran, didn’t see her daughter outside, she was frantic. She shouted to nearby firefighters that her daughter was still inside, then ran back into the burning home to rescue her on her own. In the meantime, firefighters had found her daughter and had begun treating her for smoke inhalation. The injuries that Princella suffered were much more serious. With burns on 49 percent of her body, Princella remained in a coma for two months.
In this video clip, Princella talks about how her life changed after being burned.
Saying smoke alarms give you early warning, but sprinkler systems will put a
fire out sometimes even before the smoke alarm activates. That's how
good they can be, Capt. Dave Meadows with the Fort Wayne Fire
Department told a local TV station that new homes should include this life-saving protection.
In a home fire sprinkler system, a network of piping filled with water under pressure is installed behind the walls and ceilings, and individual sprinklers are placed along the piping to protect the areas beneath them. Because the water is always in the piping, the fire sprinkler system is always "on call".
If fire breaks out, the air temperature above the fire rises and the sprinkler activates when the air temperature gets high enough. The sprinkler sprays water forcefully over the flames, extinguishing them completely in most cases, or at least controlling the heat and limiting the development of toxic smoke until the fire department arrives.
But the effectiveness of a home fire sprinkler system can be extremely hampered if you paint over the sprinkler heads in your home. Watch as this San Diego home inspector explains the danger of painting your home fire sprinklers.
The highly-anticipated launch of the VISION House® exhibit in INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® took place, appropriately enough, on Earth Day, April 22.
The innovative exhibit, a 4,500 square-foot show house located inside the theme park’s 100,000-square foot INNOVENTIONS building, was launched by Green Builder Media® to present green living ideas in a fun and informative manner. NFPA partnered with Green Builder Media to present information about the environmental impact of home fire sprinklers.
"NFPA, in conjunction with the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, is thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the millions of visitors to Epcot each year about the green benefits of home fire sprinklers," says Lorraine Carli, NFPA's Vice President of Communication.
Here are photos and video from the VISION House launch event:
Sara Gutterman (left), CEO of Green Builder Media, prepares to take a tour group through the VISION House. "Our goal is to have all guests walk away with one or two ideas about how they can live a greener life," she said.
Guests learned about the major themes of green building, including energy generation and efficiency, water conservation, and indoor environment quality.
Ron Jones, President of Green Builder Media, said he was thrilled to be able to include home fire sprinklers as a green component of the VISION House. "If you have ever seen a building that has burned down, it’s a toxic waste site. You have all this release of material into the air, you have all of the water that’s wasted and washed down into the soil and into the watershed, and you have all of this material that’s lost and needs to be taken to the landfill. And it can haunt a particular piece of property, as well as the family and property owner, for decades. So it is really important for us to stress that fire sprinklers are an environmental story, and not just a health and safety story."
Tour guide "Sawyer" prepares to bring a group of guests through the front door of the fictional Monteverde family's home. The family's vision was to create a home that works in harmony with the environment.
Sawyer tells guests about the green technologies and products in the VISION Home kitchen.
In the studio located in the "backyard" of the VISION House, Sawyer explains the environmental impact of home fire sprinklers. "Automatic sprinklers can limit the spread of a fire, and they use much less water than a typical fire hose. That means less air pollution, and most importantly, less stuff that gets hauled off to the landfill," she said.
Watch VISION House tour guide "Sawyer" talk about the environmental impact of home fire sprinklers:
Watch this video tour of the VISION House, produced by INSIDE THE MAGIC:
During her session at NFPA's Fire & Life Safety Conference in Orlando, Sandra Stanek, CFPS, SET, Senior Fire Protection Specialist at NFPA, talked about the basics of residential sprinkler systems. She discussed common sprinkler myths, water sources, and the benefits of installing residential sprinklers to local jurisdictions. For more information about residential sprinklers, visit www.firesprinklerinitiative.org
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