Residential Fire Sprinklers Save Lives

Focus on Fire Safety

Residential Fire Sprinklers Save Lives

For Consumers, Sprinklers Offer Affordable Fire Protection

  • The national average to install is 1 to 1½ percent of the total cost of new construction (retrofitting is typically higher).
  • Costs can be rolled into a new home mortgage.
  • Sprinklered homes qualify for valuable discounts on insurance premiums.
  • Having residential fire sprinklers is like having a firefighter on duty in your home 24 hours a day.

For Builders, Sprinklers Are Good Business

Sprinklers:

  • Give homes the safety advantage that savvy homebuyers want.
  • Can be seamlessly incorporated into any design style.
  • Add value to the homes you build.
  • Offer code alternatives and trade-ups (community-dependent), such as street width reduction, additional units, or increased hydrant spacing that net builders significant savings.

Schools, office buildings, factories, and other commercial buildings have benefited from fire protection sprinkler systems for over a century. But what about our homes? Millions of Americans have installed smoke alarms in their homes in the past few decades, but a smoke alarm can only alert the occupants to a fire in the house…it cannot contain or extinguish a fire. Residential sprinkler systems can!

The Fire Problem in the United States

Fires in residences take a high toll on life and property. In 2006, 412,500 residential fires resulted in 2,620 civilian fire deaths, 12,925 civilian fire injuries, and about $7 billion in property damage.

19% of all reported residential fires occurred in one- and two-family structures; however, these fires caused 66% of the fire deaths in the United States. Additionally, 25% of all firefighter on-duty fatalities are associated with residential fires each year.

How Sprinklers Can Help

Studies conducted by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have concluded that:

  1. When fire sprinklers alone are installed in a residence, the chances of dying in a fire are reduced by 69%, when compared to a residence without sprinklers.
  2. When smoke alarms alone are installed in a residence, a reduction in the death rate of 63% can be expected, when compared to a residence without smoke alarms.
  3. When both smoke alarms and fire sprinklers are present in a home, the risk of dying in a fire is reduced by 82%, when compared to a residence without either.

Video Courtesy of Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition.

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Sprinklers are a Good Investment for the Homebuyer and Communities

Types of Residential Fire Sprinklers


Concealed Sprinkler

Concealed Sprinkler


Sidewall Sprinkler

Sidewall Sprinkler


Pendent Sprinkler

Pendent Sprinkler

  1. A fire occurs in a residential structure every 76 seconds, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). To the homebuilder, this fact means that a large share of potential customers now have knowledge of the terror and destruction caused by fire.
  2. If installed during new home construction, the cost is often no more than 1 to 1½% of the overall construction cost.
  3. Costs can be rolled into a new home mortgage.
  4. Insurance from homeowner underwriters will vary depending on type of coverage.
  5. Families with children, senior citizens, and handicapped members have special fire protection needs. Home sprinkler systems provide added protection for these people.
  6. In case of a home fire, firefighters will have less risk of injury or life loss since they will be fighting a fire of less intensity.
  7. Allocation of community resources can be improved with the adoption of home sprinkler technology.
  8. Communities will be able to make better utilization of available land and thereby increase their tax base.
In Pleasant View, Tennessee, a community with a sprinkler ordinance, new sprinkler systems are being installed at approximately $1.07 a square foot. Older residences can be retrofitted with sprinkler systems for approximately $2.14 a square foot.

Residential Sprinkler System Success Story – Scottsdale, Arizona

The City of Scottsdale, Arizona passed a comprehensive Sprinkler Ordinance on June 4, 1985 stating that effective July 5, 1985, all new multi-family and commercial structures for which building permits were issued would be sprinklered. The Ordinance also required that, effective January 1, 1986, all new single family residences for which building permits were issued would be sprinklered.

As of January 1, 2001:

USFA and Residential Sprinkler Systems

For More Information…

Visit these sites for more information on increasing the awareness of the benefits and availability of residential fire sprinkler systems:

It is the position of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration that all citizens should be protected against death, injury, and property loss resulting from fire in their residence. All homes should be equipped with both smoke alarms and automatic fire sprinklers, and all families should have and practice an emergency escape plan. The USFA fully supports all efforts to reduce the tragic toll of fire losses in this nation by implementing these features, including the proposed changes to the International Residential Code that would require automatic sprinklers in all new residential construction.

Only fire sprinklers can detect fire AND automatically control it – affording families the time to make a safe escape and protect valuables and property. Please join with us in helping to save lives by supporting the installation of residential fire sprinklers in all American homes.

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