Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

People at the highest risk of death in home structure fires are the very young and very old, according to the Characteristics of Home Fire Victims report released today by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Key findings from the report:

AGE

• In 2002-2005, children under age five were one and a half times as likely to die in a home fire as the general public.

• People age 65 and over were more than twice as likely to die in a home fire and the risk of death increased with age among older adults, with those 85 and over being nearly four times as likely to die.

• The highest risk of non-fatal injury from home fires was faced by people age 20-49 and 75 or over. Risk of injury for adults between 20-34 years old was 30 percent greater than the average person.

• For children 14 and under, heating equipment is the leading cause of civilian fire deaths. Children under the age of five are more than eight times as likely to die in fire caused by playing with heat source than are people of all ages.

GENERAL

• Overall, fire deaths and injuries in home structure fires are down. On average, 2,870 people died in home structure fires annually in 2002-2005.

• In 2005, home structure fire deaths were down 45 percent and injures were down 35 percent, compared to 1980.

• More than two of every five people injured (but not killed) in home fires were trying to fight the fire or rescue someone when they were injured.

• More than one of every three fatal fire victims never wake up before being injured.

GENDER

• Males have a 30 percent higher risk of home fire death than females and an 18 percent higher risk of non-fatal home fire injury.

• Males were more likely than females to be fighting the fire or trying to rescue others from it when injured, while females were more likely than males to be escaping when injured.

REGION/POPULATION

· Rural communities were found to have the highest fire death rates in the nation. In 2006, the highest fire death rates by far were in southern communities with populations under 2,500 people. Comparable areas in the west had the second highest death rate.

CAUSES

· Smoking materials have historically caused the largest number of civilian deaths in home structure fires; however in 2002-2005, heating equipment and smoking materials each accounted for 24 percent of civilian fire deaths. Cooking equipment continues to be the leading cause of civilian fire injuries.

· For children 14 and under, heating equipment is the leading cause of civilian fire deaths. Children under the age of 5 are more than eight times as likely to die in fire caused by playing with heat source than are people of all ages.

· Fire deaths due to smoke inhalation outnumber deaths due to burns.

NFPA offers the following tips on 10 things people can do to be fire-safe at home:

· Watch your cooking

Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you must leave, even for a short time, turn off the stove.

· Give space heaters space

Keep fixed and portable space heaters at least 3 feet from anything that can burn. Turn off heaters when you leave the room or go to sleep.

· Smoke outside

Ask smokers to smoke outside. Have sturdy, deep ashtrays for smokers.

· Keep matches and lighters out of reach

Keep matches and lighters up high, out of the reach of children, preferably in a cabinet with a child lock.

· Inspect electrical cords

Replace cords that are cracked, damaged, have broken plugs, or have loose connections.

· Be careful when using candles

Keep candles at least 1 foot from anything that can burn. Blow out candles when you leave the room or go to sleep.

· Have a home fire escape plan

Make a home fire escape plan and practice it at least twice a year.

· Install smoke alarms

Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Interconnect smoke alarms throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound.

· Test smoke alarms

Test smoke alarms at least once a month and replace batteries once a year or when the alarm “chirps” to tell you the battery is low. Replace any smoke alarm that is more than 10 years old.

· Install sprinklers

If you are building or remodeling your home, install residential fire sprinklers. Sprinklers can contain and may even extinguish a fire in less time than it would take the fire department to arrive.

By Michael Gardner – San Diego Union Tribune

SACRAMENTO – When the devastating Witch Creek Fire swept through San Diego County last fall, it took with it more than 1,000 homes and cost insurers $1 billion.

But some homes were left standing, from a solitary house in a burned-out subdivision to an entire development.

Why?

In part, the answer lies with homeowners who adopted fire-safe practices, from screening vents to keep out embers to replacing roofs with noncombustible material.

That was the conclusion reached by the Institute for Business and Home Safety – a research arm of the insurance industry – after a lengthy study of 3,000 homes to determine why certain properties survived the Witch Creek firestorm and what can be done to increase protection.

Julie Rochman, the institute’s executive director, said the goal is to provide state officials with sound research as they explore new policies toward the expansion of homes in wildland areas, which now number about five million statewide.

The report included interviews with homeowners and local officials, comparisons of flame-consumed neighborhoods and an analysis of various conditions, from weather to topography.

Importantly, the institute found that wind-blown embers can spark blazes a mile away. As a defense, the institute encourages homeowners to take steps to seal ember paths to attics, replace windows prone to breaking and store combustible materials far away from structures.

Also, homeowners need to be aware of the many potential torches, including seemingly harmless wood fences, bird nests, palm trees, playground sets and hanging plants.

“Those things ended up burning up the houses,” Rochman said.

Of particular note, no homes were lost in “shelter-in-place” communities that had adopted stringent fire safeguards as part of construction and maintenance codes. Those include residential fire sprinklers, boxed eaves, special roofs and a 100-foot clearing of defensible space.

“Not one, not a single house, in the shelter-in-place communities burned,” Rochman said.

The report included a poll of 400 residents that suggested homeowners shy away from prevention because of the potential price tag.

“Unfortunately, the majority of homeowners in the survey believed the most effective wildfire property protection measures are also the most expensive,” according to the report. “This appears to be the biggest stumbling block for convincing them to take action.”

Armed with the new research, the institute has developed a comprehensive checklist for homeowners to follow to minimize fire losses.

Some of the preventive steps are free or relatively inexpensive, such as moving wood that is stacked against the house, cleaning gutters, relocating trestles farther from the house and cutting back vegetation growing under vents and windows.

More expensive fire-prevention measures include installing a new roof, fire-safe deck, dual-pane windows and fire-resistant siding. Replacing wood fences and removing trees that touch homes also are in the recommendations.

The report revealed little new in terms of the need for homeowners to practice fire safety. But it reinforces those arguments with a thorough analysis of the results from an actual firestorm.

“It’s right on point,” said Dave Hillman, chief of law enforcement and fire prevention for Cal Fire. “It reflected everything our firefighters have known for a number of years.”

To read the full article click here.

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Each year millions of people around the world celebrate the holiday season by setting up a Christmas tree in their house and decorating it with ornaments and lights. It’s a wonderful time of year, but there is a fire hazard that you need to be aware of.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), trees used indoors during the holiday season account for approximately 400 house fires each year. The consequences of these fires include 10 deaths, 80 injuries and more than $15 million in property damage.

A significant hazard is created when a Christmas tree begins to dry out. While a fresh tree is not likely to burn well, a dry tree can burn with incredible speed and terrible consequences.

Just watch this one minute demonstration from NIST showing how quickly a dry Christmas tree can burn.

(Unfortunately this video does not have an audio track so there will be no sound coming from your speakers)

The reaction most people have the first time they see that is “Wow” followed by a few moments of silence. I guess those public safety messages to properly dispose of Christmas trees before they dry out have a good purpose.

I will also take my reaction a step further by expressing my belief that smoke alarms alone would not give a family enough time to get out of the house before that thick black smoke would consume the house.

This is just one of many examples where the fast response of residential fire sprinklers applying water directly to the fire would be life saving. A fire sprinkler would not only slow down the fire and reduce the amount of smoke, in some cases it may even be able to extinguish the fire and save the home from destruction.

In this example, a fire sprinkler system may truly be the difference between surviving and dying.

Each year during the holiday season, please remember this video and take proper precautions by ensuring your tree is properly disposed of before turning into a significant fire hazard.

View the USFA and NIST further study and video showing how a residential fire sprinkler can control a Christmas Tree fire.

The U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fire Academy announce the availability of the new National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0 Self Study online course. Serving as an introduction to NFIRS 5.0, this self-study course provides an overview of the data collection system, its modules, and data conversion issues.

“We are pleased to make this important course available online to all USA fire departments,” said U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade. “Accurate and complete NFIRS data is critical for use at the local, state, and federal levels and this course is the starting place for building the core competencies key to creating quality data and making available the quality information needed by the American fire service.”

NFIRS is the comprehensive method for detailed tracking of fire, emergency, and related incident responses. The information recorded in NFIRS can be used by emergency services organizations to track current workloads, develop response metrics and statistics, and help with current asset management. More information and access to this course is available on NFA Online. Additional NFIRS-related training can be found on the USFA Web site.

More than a dozen courses are available through NFA Online in the following curriculum areas: Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Response to Terrorism, Fire Prevention, Incident Management, Management Science, and Public Education.

The USFA reminds everyone to have a comprehensive fire protection plan that includes smoke alarms, residential sprinklers and practicing a home fire escape plan

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OTTAWA, Jun 2, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) — – An engineering professor at Carleton University is conducting potentially lifesaving research by determining the role of flammable upholstered furniture in fires, thanks to a grant he received from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Dr. Ehab Zalok is leading one of 18 research projects funded under CMHC’s External Research Program (ERP) in 2008. The goal of this program is to support the work of housing researchers across Canada to improve the quality of housing for Canadians. Dr. Zalok joins two other CMHC grant recipients in Ottawa: Betty Dion of Betty Dion Enterprises Ltd. (BDEL), and Dr. Paulette Guitard of the University of Ottawa.

Before firefighters enter a building, they need to do a burn assessment to determine safety, and a slight misjudgement can cost them their lives. Firefighters examine indicators including, floor space, window size and fire type, but what is hard to predict is the flammability of furniture.

Approximately one-third of residential fire deaths are attributable to upholstered furniture. Dr. Zalok points to flammable upholstered furniture as the cause for a fire in Montréal last year that ended in tragedy.

“Some apartment-dwellers had been away for a few days, and they had a sofa leaning against a heating element,” says Dr. Zalok. “There was some smoke, so the neighbours called for a fire response. When the firefighters tried to move the sofa, it caught on fire, and the whole apartment went into flashover. Two of the firefighters escaped, but one died on the scene.”

A flashover is a sudden jump in temperature that can cause everything in a room to ignite. It’s one of the more dreaded possibilities in an enclosed fire, and because of a lack of research, it is often difficult to predict.

Dr. Zalok and his team plan to develop a database from existing information on fires attributed to upholstered furniture. By using computer models for typical single houses and townhouses, the team will study how different types of furniture could influence burn rates and times to critical events such as flashover, sprinkler activation, loss of visibility or release of toxic gases.

The task will be a complex challenge.

“Window size and floor area are easy to calculate,” says Zalok. “But it will be difficult to collect real data from manufacturers about the properties of their furniture, and characterize it in a way that will be useful to the study.”

Still, this project may help to save lives – and raise awareness about the role of furniture in fires.

“For example, if people lean sofas against heating elements, it may take four to five years for the material to dry out and become a fire hazard,” says Dr. Zalok. “I hope (the research) will lead to better recommendations to occupants about where they should put their smoke detectors – something that builders can pass along.”

To read the full article click here.

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Sometimes life-saving technologies seem beyond the reach of the average person. If you put residential fire sprinklers in that category, think again. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) economists ran the numbers. Their benefit-cost analysis found that for new home construction, a multipurpose network sprinkler system that connects to a house’s regular water supply and piping makes good economic sense.

NIST’s Benefit-Cost Analysis of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems report, released last month, examines data from 2002 to 2005 to value the economic performance of a residential wet-pipe fire sprinkler system. The additional economic benefits from installation of a multipurpose network sprinkler system (the least costly wet-pipe system available) are estimated for three types of newly constructed single-family houses that are also equipped with smoke detectors. The study builds on a prior cost analysis developed by NIST’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory and offers a current analysis of the economics of residential fire sprinkler technology.

According to NIST, the cost in 2005 dollars for adding a multipurpose network sprinkler system to a house under construction was approximately $2,075 for a 3,338-square-foot colonial-style house, $1,895 for a 2,257-square-foot townhouse and $829 for a 1,171-square-foot ranch house. However when a house fire occurs, the estimated benefits of a residential fire sprinkler system include a 100 percent reduction in civilian fatalities and a 57 percent reduction in civilian injuries, a 32 percent reduction of both direct property damage (property losses that would not be covered by insurance) and indirect property costs (fire-related expenses such as temporary shelter, missed work, extra food costs, legal expenses, transportation, emotional counseling and childcare). Houses with sprinklers, in addition to smoke alarms, also received an 8 percent reduction in homeowner insurance premiums, over houses only equipped with smoke alarms.

After subtracting installation costs and weighting the benefits by the odds that a house would catch on fire, NIST economists concluded that, depending on assumptions, the net gain from installing a sprinkler system (in 2005 dollars) would vary between $704 and $4,801 for the colonial-style house, between $884 and $4,981 for the townhouse, and between $1,950 and $6,048 for the ranch-style house, over the 30-year study period. In all cases examined, the researchers found that the data supported the finding that multipurpose network residential fire sprinkler systems are cost-effective.

The United States Fire Administration (USFA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), funded the research.

To download the full report, “Benefit-Cost Analysis of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems (NISTIR 7451),” by David T. Butry, M. Hayden Brown and Sieglinde K. Fuller - click here.