Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008 - (Page 22)

Residential Sprinkler Systems By Lt. Scott Mullins, Village Fire Department or over 100 years, automatic fire sprinklers have had an outstanding safety record in industrial, commercial and institutional applications. During this time, there have been not multiple fire fatalities recorded in any structure with a working sprinkler system where the fire was of an accidental nature. Reports further indicate that single fire fatalities have been reduced to a small fraction of those recorded in buildings without sprinklers. Sprinkler systems represent a remarkable achievement in public safety. Automatic sprinkler systems limit fire to the area of origin 96 percent of the time, and reduce property damage by 60 percent or more. Yet, given these facts, the installation of residential sprinklers in most communities is few and far between. As a nation that prides ourselves on leadership and innovation, we have fallen short when it comes to protecting our loved ones against fires in the home. In the U.S., over 80 percent of fire deaths and 72 percent of fire injuries occur in residential fi res. The U.S. Fire Administration notes that in 2005 there were: • 396,000 residential fires • 3,055 civilian fire deaths • 13,825 civilian fire injuries • $6.9 billion in property damage Many of the deaths or injuries and much of the property damage could have been eliminated or reduced if residential sprinkler systems had been installed at the time of the fire. All this being said, why is it so hard to get people to believe in and install sprinkler systems in the very place that statistics show their family members are more likely to die due to a fire? At the Village Fire Department, we have taken giant steps in reducing the negative statistics when it comes to residential fires. The Village Fire Department has one station, protects six cities encompassing approximately nine square miles and employs 40 suppression firefighters, 10 on duty per shift. The average square footage of the homes is 8,000, with the biggest being around 19,000 square feet. We receive automatic aid from the City of Houston with a 22 F possible response delay of up to 15 minutes. Our average call volume presently runs between 1,700-1,900 calls. In 1998, an ordinance was adopted requiring new home construction to install residential sprinkler systems. We were trying to combat a problem we had with “flag poll lots.” Homes built on flag poll lots have drives that often run hundreds of feet off the roadway and are not designed for the weight or width of fire apparatus. The prospect of skull dragging hundreds of feet of supply line prior to beginning a fire attack was not acceptable to anyone. The best solution to the problem, at least for future construction, was residential sprinklers. Early in the beginning stages of the project, while at one of the city council meetings (we cover six villages – each with its own governmental body), one of the mayors said, “If it’s good enough for homes that sit on flag poll lots, why isn’t it good for all homes?” This was the start of a long but rewarding venture to where we are now. The ordinance was finally passed, but it wasn’t without plenty of TEXAS FIRE CHIEF Fall/Winter 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008

Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008 Contents Executive Director’s Report Texas Fire Chiefs Academy Project Reports Southwest Fire Rescue Conference Program Membership Application Customer Service Orientation in Fire Rescue Departments A Visit to the E-One Plant Index to Advertisers

Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008

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