NFPA Journal - October 2016 Home Fire Sprinkler Special Issue - 47

FEATURE
THE FIRE SERVICE AND HOME FIRE SPRINKLERS

Sprinkler Coalition, has organized sprinkler summits and has pushed
the Connecticut legislature to consider codes that would require sprinklers in new construction of one- and two-family homes.
"I think everybody should get involved," he said. "People are dying
in homes that are unsprinklered, and there's no need for that."
EDUCATING THE FIREFIGHTERS
Much of the impetus for home fire sprinklers has come from the HFSC,
a non-profit educational organization launched in 1996 to inform the
public about the value of home fire sprinkler protection. HFSC has
become a leading resource for independent, noncommercial information about home fire sprinklers in the United States and Canada.
In 2008, the HFSC launched the Built for Life Fire Department
program (BFLFD) to increase local fire service sprinkler education.
BFLFD encourages and supports fire departments with free educational outreach material, regular e-mail blasts and newsletters on the
latest developments, and valuable resources, such as grant-funded
stipends for local sprinkler outreach. Today, about 2,700 departments
in the U.S. and Canada are designated as Built For Life departments.
Peg Paul, HFSC's marketing manager, said the frequent, thoughtful
responses from BFLFD departments has helped guide the coalition in
continuing improvement of targeted materials that help them reach
and educate local audiences. "Getting feedback from this group has
been vital to our success in working with the fire service," Paul said.
A number of factors are turning fire service educators into home
fire sprinkler advocates. One is concern over the nature of today's
home fires. Statistically, room and contents fires in one- and twofamily homes pose a greater threat to life than fires in large apartment
complexes or commercial buildings, many of which are required to
be sprinklered. Although the total number of fires reported by local
municipal fire departments has decreased by 29 percent in the last 15
years, 78 percent of all fire deaths occurred in the home, according to
2015 figures collected by NFPA. Additionally, 71 percent of all civilian
fire injuries and nearly half of the total direct property damage in 2015
were from home structure fires.

80%
Percentage
of civilian
fire fatalities
that occur in
home fires

75%
Percentage
of civilian
fire injuries
that occur in
home fires

8.1

Civilian death
rate per 1,000
home fires in
1977

7.5

UL testing found that unprotected lightweight construction assemblies failed much
faster than traditional assemblies when exposed to fire. Here, mannequins simulate
the weight of two firefighters in protective gear. In this test, the floor is collapsing.

Photograph: UL

Civilian death
rate per 1,000
home fires in
2013

"Now most people who
die in fires in this country are
dying in home fires-one
or two or three or five every
day," Ennis said. "If a single
fire kills 25 to 40 people, we
notice it. But when death tolls
are smaller and spread out,
that goes under the radar."
What is even more disturbing is that the risk of death
in a home fire has changed
little over nearly four decades.
According to NFPA figures,
the death rate per 1,000
home fires was 8.1 in 1977,
compared to 7.5 in 2013.
The fuel load in today's
homes may be a factor. Fed
by petroleum-based plastics
in furniture and accessories,
contents fires are burning
quicker, resulting in rooms
reaching flashover much
faster than in the past-from
nearly 20 minutes a few
decades ago to just a few
minutes or less today. That
means occupants have much
less time to get themselves
out of a home safely.
Additionally, the demand
for larger houses and the
popularity of open space
in the designs-such as
combined kitchen, dining
and/or living rooms-means
smoke, heat, and fire move
much more quickly through
homes, Ennis said. "In your
grandmother's house, the
rooms were 10 feet by 10
feet," he said, a floorplan that
slowed a fire's spread.
Modern construction
materials also have increased
fire dangers because today's
lightweight wood construction products (such as woodtruss roofing and I-joists)
burn faster if they are not

OCTOBER 2016 NFPA JOURNAL

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