Fire Officials' Event Will Show Home Sprinkler's Life-Saving Benefits

If installation of a simple device nearly guaranteed the safety of your family and protection of your property, few people would want to pass up the opportunity.

And according to the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, a group that includes fire safety officials, insurance companies, FEMA and Underwriters Laboratories, fire sprinklers installed in homes could save 80 percent of the 2,800 lives lost each year in home fires.

To help prove the point, the Somerset County Fire Marshals Association will show how effective sprinkler systems in homes can be at a demonstration set for 10 a.m. Sept. 21 at the Somerset County Emergency Services Training Academy, at 402 Roycefield Road, in Hillsborough.

"The association has been awarded one of four grants to build two side-by-side rooms—one with sprinklers and one with out for a live fire demonstration," Hillsborough Fire Marshall Dave Foelsch said. "Our goal is to get the message out that fire sprinklers not only have a property saving value, but early extinguishment can and will save lives."

The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition notes the systems use far less water to more efficiently and quickly extinguish fires than firefighters would using conventional methods, resulting in less damage from the fires as well as water. Most systems are installed on new houses but existing homes can be retrofitted with sprinkler systems.

Either way, residents can gain peace of mind from the installation, Foelsch notes. 
 
"Sprinklers in residential and commercial buildings have documented facts on life and property saving and we want to prove that to the citizens of our county," he said.

The demonstration is open to the public.