NFPA Journal - October 2016 Home Fire Sprinkler Special Issue - 11

Sprinkler Strong
NFPA's Fire Sprinkler Initiative, or FSI, offers an advocacy complement to the educational efforts
of the HFSC. So far, FSI-backed home fire sprinkler coalitions have been formed in 29 states.

and helping it to become a powerful
and effective national media source.
"The birth of HFSC in 1996 signaled
the beginning of the first residential fire
sprinkler educational effort targeted
specifically at the general public," says
Jim Dalton, NFSA's Washington/Con-

2009
HFSC introduces the Fire and
Sprinkler Burn Demonstration Guide, step-by-step
instructions on how to build
and conduct educational
side-by-side burn demos
during community events.
Fire departments nationwide
conduct demonstrations.
HFSC creates three-minute
impact videos to help fire
departments educate
consumers, homebuilders,
and real estate agents.
HFSC awards educational
banner displays to 15 "Built
for Life" Fire Departments for
community education.
Testimonial ads featuring
"Built for Life" Fire Departments run in fire service
magazines with a total
circulation of 1.2 million.

2009

2010

gressional liaison and its representative on the HFSC Board until 2009. He
remains proud of the coalition's track
record. "HFSC has steadfastly stuck to
its original objective of ensuring that
families are aware of and knowledgeable about the life-saving and property-

2010
HFSC and FM Global
release landmark study
on the environmental
impact of home fire
sprinklers.

conferences to promote
"Protecting Your Community" educational
material.

2012
HFSC develops "Under100 "Built for Life"
standing Water Supply"
Fire Departments
video to educate water
nationwide receive
purveyors and the water
$1,000 stipends to
industry on home fire
conduct side-by-side
sprinklers; exhibits at
burn demos during com- American Water Works
munity events.
Association Annual
Convention.
2011
HFSC partners with
HFSC develops accred10 "Built for Life" Fire
ited continuing education
Departments to conduct program for architects,
community events
homebuilders, and
with side-by-side burn
public works officials.
demos and ads in local
The program is hosted on
newspapers.
HanleyWoodUniversity.
com and certified by the
HFSC attends National
National Association of
Association of Realtors, Home Builders (NAHB).
National League of
Cities, and International 2013
City/County ManageHFSC develops the
ment Association
new interactive "Home

Fire Sprinklers: Ask
for Them" online guide
to provide easy-tounderstand home fire
sprinkler information to
consumers. The short
video segments explain
the basics about home
fire sprinklers, including
why they are needed,
how they work, and how
they are installed.
15 "Built for Life"
Fire Departments
are awarded $1,500
stipends to conduct vocational school programs
with HFSC's Vocational
Student Guide.
2014
HFSC develops a real
estate education
video called "Selling
a Home Protected
with Sprinklers," and
the video "Protecting
Your Community with
Home Fire Sprinklers"

preservation advantages of fire sprinkler-protected homes. Long-range
success will depend on the ability to
continue this most important effort."
Muncy, who will retire from AFSA
in December, agrees. "Focusing on
those goals, HFSC has accomplished so
much more than we originally thought
20 years ago. As I near retirement, I
must say that my involvement on the
HFSC board for 20 years has been one
of the most satisfying efforts of my
career-something I will look back on
with satisfaction and fond memories.
I'm sure HFSC will continue to spread
the message about home fire sprinklers for decades to come."
Carli emphasizes that HFSC has the
utmost gratitude for its founding
members. "Their foresight we know has
saved lives and will continue to do so
for many decades to come," she says. "It
has proved to be a very successful
model aimed at the most pressing fire
issue of our time-home fires."

to educate building and
municipal officials about
the dangers of today's
modern home fires.

2016
Built for Life Fire Department Program grows to
2,800 members.

HFSC's new "Protect
What You Value Most"
public service advertisements run on HGTV,
reaching 3.3 million
viewers.

HFSC celebrates 20 years
by holding a satellite media tour that includes 16
live and taped interviews
with Ron Hazelton, as well
as a side-by-side burn
demonstration hosted
by Hazelton at the NFPA
Conference & Expo in
Las Vegas, broadcast via
satellite. The total reach is
2.9 million viewers.

HomeFireSprinkler.org
is optimized for viewing
on smart phones and
tablets.
2015
The public health journal
Injury Epidemiology publishes results of a Johns
Hopkins study about
public opinion concerning
home fire sprinklers,
featuring HFSC's Harris
Poll information in the
article.

2016
OCTOBER 2016 NFPA JOURNAL

http://www.HomeFireSprinkler.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - October 2016 Home Fire Sprinkler Special Issue