NFPA Journal - October 2016 Home Fire Sprinkler Special Issue - 43

SPECIAL ISSUE
HOME FIRE SPRINKLERS

THE ALLYN-BRITTIAN FAMILY

BETTER HOUSE
A Connecticut family loses its home to a fire and
rebuilds with home fire sprinklers

sk Aaliyah Brittian how she likes her new house, and this is what she'll tell you: "It's better
than what it was before." That's because the house she shares with her mother, Michelle
Allyn, and older sister, Lexie, is protected by home fire sprinklers. ¶ The same could
not be said for the family's previous house. On the evening of October 8, 2014, Michelle and her daughters were settling in for the night at their home in Lisbon, Connecticut. They'd
had dinner, and Michelle was getting ready to do some studying for a course she was taking when
she heard an odd popping noise. "I thought it was the TV and didn't really think of it," she says in a
new "Faces of Fire" video, produced for NFPA's Fire Sprinkler Initiative (firesprinklerinitiative.org/
family). "I started seeing a bright light through my front door. I opened the door and the whole
side [of the house] was illuminated, but I still couldn't see the fire. I went outside and could see the
whole carport was on fire." ¶ She ran into the house and yelled to the girls that there was a fire
and they had to get out. "They thought I was kidding," Michelle recalls. Even though they were
skeptical, the girls grabbed a fire extinguisher from the kitchen and ran outside. ¶ Lexie's voice
grows soft as she remembers seeing the blazing carport. "We saw the flames, and I was like, 'Oh
wow-our house is on fire,'" she says. They all got out safely, and no one was hurt in the fire. ¶
The house was engulfed when firefighters arrived and was so badly damaged that it had to be demolished. Investigators were unable to determine a cause but ruled that it was not caused by the
family. ¶ As Michelle scrambled to find a temporary place to live, the family wrestled with the
sudden upheaval the fire had brought to their lives. Even the concern of friends and neighbors
added to the strangeness. "I felt like a charity case," Lexie says. "I was like, 'I don't want your help,
you can go now, like, goodbye.' I don't really like asking people for help ... it felt like I was just
like a zombie going through life." ¶ Rebuilding a safer home on the site of the previous house
was a necessity for Michelle, especially after her father, a local fire chief, told her about the value
of home fire sprinklers. "I never had a question [about installing sprinklers] after he explained
how it works," she says. ¶ The girls, though, especially Lexie, had concerns about sprinklers because they thought the sprinklers could be activated by their mother's cooking habits. "She burns
everything," says Aaliyah. ¶ "Yeah... [I thought] the sprinklers would go off and all our stuff
would be wet," Lexie adds. "I do burn a lot of food," Michelle admits, "but we explained to her that
no, that wouldn't happen, the temperature has to reach a certain point before the [sprinklers] go
off-they're not set off by smoke." ¶ Lexie quickly came around and is now a supporter of this
life-saving technology. "It gives you a peace of mind that, like, if there is another fire, the sprinklers will [control] the fire ... and we can get out as fast as possible." ¶ "I feel a lot more comfortable living in this home," says Michelle of a benefit of home fire sprinklers. "If my kids are home
alone, God forbid something happens, they would have time to get out of the house. It's just a lot
more peace of mind so you don't have to be nervous all the time."

OCTOBER 2016 NFPA JOURNAL

http://www.firesprinklerinitiative.org/family http://www.firesprinklerinitiative.org/family

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - October 2016 Home Fire Sprinkler Special Issue