FIRE SPRINKLER
SYSTEMS
The San Miguel
Consolidated Fire Protection District has had a Residential Fire
Sprinkler Ordinance in effect since 1988. It effects all new
dwellings, regardless of size, and may effect dwellings being remodeled.
Automatic residential fire sprinkler systems enjoy an unsurpassed safety
record. There is no documented case of a fire death in a
single-family residence equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler
system. Most communities
that have had such an ordinance in place can point to at least one fire
where sprinkler systems have been directly responsible for saving lives;
we have had several.
It is unfortunate
that automatic fire sprinklers do not get proper recognition.
Whenever a serious fire occurs, especially when a life or lives are
lost, the news media inundates the fire department with telephone calls.
They want to know every detail of the event. When a sprinkler
system activates, one head usually controls the fire. As a result,
there is minimal fire and water damage, and nobody dies. Follow-up
press releases to the media are largely ignored. Recent statistics
gathered by Operation Life Safety (now the Residential Fire Safety
Institute) show that between 1983 and 1995, 90% of residential fire
sprinkler activations involved one head, and 8% involved 2 head...that
is 98% of all reported activations being controlled with two or less
heads!
Sprinkler systems
cost less than the carpeting in a new house. In addition, many
insurance companies give reduced rates in homes are equipped with smoke
detectors and automatic fire sprinkler systems. For more
information on residential fire sprinkler systems, check into the links
provided below.
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