Sprinkler Systems

Properly installed and maintained automatic fire sprinkler systems help save lives. Because fire sprinkler systems react so quickly, they can dramatically reduce the heat, flames and smoke produced in a fire.

Facts & Figures*

• Sprinklers typically reduce chances of dying in a fire and the average property loss by one-half to two-thirds in any kind of property where they are used.

• NFPA has no record of a fire killing more than two people in a completely sprinklered public assembly, educational, institutional or residential building where the system was working properly.

• In 1998, 31% of public assembly properties where fires occurred in the U.S. were equipped with sprinklers, compared with 3% of residential properties.

• In 2000, 85% of fires occurred in the home, resulting in 3,420 fire deaths.

        (*From NFPA's U.S. Experience with Sprinklers and NFPA's Fire Loss in the United States, September 2001, Kimnberly D. Rohr.)

Safety Tips:

• NFPA recommends installing fire sprinklers in your home. For more information on home fire sprinklers, visit www.homefiresprinkler.org

• Families should develop and practice a home fire escape plan and have working smoke alarms.