Home fire sprinklers are crucial in fire prevention. They help slow or even stop a fire before firefighters arrive at the scene. In most cases, this reduces a significant amount of property damage and saves lives.

BY MATTHEW LEVIN

For the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) and United States Fire Administration (USFA), their goal is to have home fire sprinklers installed in as many homes as possible. Bruce Bouch, a fire program specialist with the USFA sat down with HFSC president, Lorraine Carli, to talk more about this subject as a part of a video series created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of HFSC.

Bouch mentions early in the interview that fire sprinklers are extremely important to the USFA. “It is the position of the USFA that all citizens should be protected against death, injury, and property loss resulting from fire in their homes,” he said While home fire sprinklers can help prevent injuries and deaths among the public, they also greatly serve the health of firefighters. Today:

• Firefighters are 11 times more likely to be injured fighting structure fires
• 67 percent of firefighter’s injuries are from fighting structure fires
• Firefighters face a 9percent increase in cancer diagnosis.
• Firefighters also face a 14 percent increase in cancer related deaths compared to the general US population

Bouch said that “Firefighters are put into these very dangerous, unfamiliar situations. They don’t know the layout of that home. They don’t know the layout of that building. So, they are significantly at risk when they enter a house that is fully involved.” According to Bouch, home fire sprinklers greatly reduce the risks they must take by helping stop a fire before it starts[A1].

Bouch also talks about the USFA’s “Fire is Everyone’s Fight” initiative. “It is everyone’s responsibility in one form or another to prevent a fire to begin with,” he said. The mission is to unite the fire service, life safety organizations, and the public to help reduce home fire injuries, deaths, and property loss by changing how people think about fire and fire prevention.

Towards the end of the video, Bouch mentions that there are tons of fire prevention resources and information available to the public on the USFA website.

Listen to the full interview with Bouch and Carli to learn more about the efforts the USFA and HFSC are taking to have as many home fire sprinklers installed as possible.

If you missed any of the previous interviews, including Carli’s most recent discussion with Jon Narva, the National Association of State Fire Marshals’ Director of External Relations, check out the full video series on HFSC’s website.

MATTHEW LEVIN is associate editor for NFPA Journal.