Fire Safety In Your Home

In a continuing effort to make our homes as safe as possible, many national and local codes are beginning to establish standards for residential fire sprinkler systems.

These systems are adaptation of the type of sprinkler system you might see in a commercial building. Commercial systems are quite sophisticated, with independent piping, pumps, and water source so that the sprinkler system can operate even when other systems in the building have been disabled.

Most residential systems being considered are not so sophisticated. One system makes use of the existing residential plumbing system and provides sprinkler heads in just a few key locations, such as the immediate vicinity of any possible source of fire such as the heating unit, wood stove/fireplace, kitchen area, etc.

Another system actually creates a storage for several hundred gallons of water, which are pumped separately into a sprinkler network in the event of a fire. This system also concentrates on several key areas; it does not provide a sprinkler system throughout the entire house.

The basic premise behind these sprinkler systems is to deal with the fire at its source. It is not the intent of these systems to protect personal property in the house. They are limited systems intended to protect life safety, obviously the higher priority.

It is likely that such systems will become more widespread in coming years as we gain more experience with them, and as the safety value is confirmed.