NFPA Journal - October 2016 Home Fire Sprinkler Special Issue - 80


LOOKING BACK

The
Residential
Sprinkler
is Born
APRIL 1981:
The Grinnell Model
F954 receives UL listing
p

«

pA U.S. patent illustration of the first sprinkler
designed specifically for residential use.

80

NFPA JOURNAL OCTOBER 2016

I

N 1981, WHEN A DEVICE
developed by Grinnell received
the first listing as a residential
sprinkler, it was the culmination of an
eight-year process that would become
one of the most important chapters in
home fire safety.
Like so many modern fire-safety
stories, it began in May 1973 with
"America Burning," the report issued
by the National Commission on Fire
Prevention and Control. The Commission was charged with studying the
fire problem in the United States and
making recommendations to reduce
loss and improve safety. One key recommendation was that "the proposed
U.S. Fire Administration support
the development of the necessary
technology for improved automatic
extinguishing systems that would
find ready acceptance by Americans
in all kinds of dwelling units." The
report noted that residential sprinkler
systems would save lives and reduce
injuries from fire and reduce the direct
and indirect costs of fire loss.
The same month "America Burning"
was released, the NFPA Committee
on Automatic Sprinklers appointed a
subcommittee to develop NFPA 13D,
Installation of Sprinkler Systems in One- and
Two-Family Dwellings and Manufactured
Homes. Life safety, rather than property protection, was a primary goal
of the proposed standard, as was the
need to make such systems affordable.
Automatic sprinkler systems had been
in existence since the late 1800s, but
their use was primarily for industrial
and commercial properties; the first
edition of NFPA 13D, issued in 1975,
was based on expert judgment and the
extrapolation of the best information
available at the time.

Between 1975 and 1980, when the
second edition of NFPA 13D was
published, numerous sprinkler-related
research projects and field tests were
conducted across the country. In one
important series of tests, in California,
a two-story, single-family stucco house
in Los Angeles was used for an array
of fire scenarios. Prototype testing
involved 60 fires, using both smoldering and flaming scenarios, initiated in
the living room, kitchen, and secondfloor bedroom. Data relating to gas
levels and temperatures, as well as eyelevel smoke obscuration, were recorded
in each test. The data produced from
the extensive testing conducted during
this period informed the 1980 edition
of NFPA 13D, a complete re-write from
the previous edition.
With the publication of the second
edition of NFPA 13D, however, no
product had been listed for use specifically in a residential property. But
quick-response residential sprinklers
had been developed to put water
on a fire faster than in a commercial
or industrial property; the intent of
these new systems was to control
the fire with the cost-effective sprinkler configurations and the water
resources available in a typical residential home, giving residents time to
escape. In theory, the final step toward
implementation was for these new
residential sprinklers to receive the
necessary listing.
In April 1981, Grinnell Model F954
passed the requirements of UL 1626
and received the first listing as a residential sprinkler. The device went into
production by year's end. The era of
effective, efficient, affordable sprinkler
protection for homes had begun.
-Mary Elizabeth Woodruff

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