Fire Sprinkler Systems Save Lives

May 4, 2019 By admin

Most of us are familiar with fire sprinkler systems in large buildings, warehouses or hotels and know what an important role they play in the event of a fire. Thanks to the important role of fire sprinkler systems, they are starting to be installed in standard residential homes as well.

It may come as a shock to hear a regular house features a fire sprinkler system, but should it be surprising? Why not install something that can save lives and lessen the damage caused by a fire. Most fire departments advocate for sprinkler systems in all new homes and buildings, due to their strong track record. Many fire departments even have additional information on their websites about such systems.

Sometimes people are unsure about having a fire sprinkler system installed, because they worry it will activate by mistake. This is a very common misconception and might steam from false alarms that happen with smoke detectors from time to time. Fire sprinkler heads are activated by the detection of excessive heat only (not smoke) and a room could never become hot enough to accidentally activate the sprinkler, without a fire being present.

In the movies, we often see all the sprinklers go off together when just one sprinkler head is activated. This doesn’t happen in real life. Each sprinkler head is individually activated by a heat sensitive element. This means that the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate first and this will normally extinguish the fire before the other sprinklers are needed.

The newest fire sprinkler systems are also very discreet. The pipe work is easily hidden in the roof space and many of the sprinkler heads are drop-down devices with cover plates, which are much less noticeable than traditional sprinkler heads.

If you’ve ever heard that the water used to fight the fire will do more damage than the actual fire, you might have some concerns about adding a fire sprinkler system. Don’t believe this for a second! Modern sprinkler heads have been designed to extinguish a fire at a very early stage, using a minimum amount of water. In fact, it will utilize far less water than the fire department does when they attend a fire.

Ask any fire department across the country and they will agree that fire sprinkler systems are one of the most effective forms of fire protection and should be installed in every building in our community.