Fire fighters love fire sprinklers. Fire chiefs in multiple countries have come out in support of laws supporting the installation of fire sprinklers in homes and businesses. Here are just a few reasons why.

They stop the fire before it gets out of hand. In most scenarios, the fire fighters have to arrive before any actual fire fighting gets done. In the time it takes for the fire brigade to arrive, a fire can do significant damage—in some cases, it can take only minutes for a building to become engulfed in flame.

But fire sprinklers start working the minute the fire starts. In buildings with fire sprinkler systems installed, over 99% of fires are stopped in their tracks before they can do more than a small amount of damage. Much of the time, fire fighters arrive to find there’s not much left for them to do. Fire prevention is obviously key!

They’re standing guard in every room, 24 hours a day. Fire fighters are vigilant and passionate about their jobs. But there aren’t enough of them to stand guard in each bedroom in each home in the U.K., every day of the week. And even if there were, fire fighters are only human—they can’t be ready to extinguish a fire twenty-four hours a day.

Fire sprinklers can. Having a fire sprinkler system installed is like having a fire fighter standing guard in each room of your house, ready to leap into action the moment there’s a fire. They provide the type of fire protection even fire fighters can’t offer—no matter how much they’d like to. Perhaps that’s why so many fire chiefs have called for stronger promotion of fire sprinklers in offices and homes.

They save lives. Fire fighters devote their lives to saving the lives of others. But no matter how hard they work, some fires are too big to control—and lives are lost as a result. Studies show approximately one in five people experiences a major home fire in their lifetimes—and about two people per day die in fires in the U.K. Each death takes a toll on fire fighters. But in U.K. homes with fire sprinklers installed, not one fire fatality has ever been recorded.

They extinguish fires in record time. Speed is crucial when it comes to extinguishing fires. No matter how quickly they respond, fire fighting professionals can’t arrive at a site instantly. That’s how quickly fire sprinklers respond—the moment the heat in a room elevates enough to break the seal on the sprinkler heads. That can take seconds—and no fire fighting force can respond that quickly, even if you live next door to the station.

They make the fire fighter’s job easier. Fire fighters are trained to run into burning buildings and put their lives on the line to fight fires—and many lose their lives every year. Fire sprinkler systems control fires as they start, either extinguishing the fire entirely or keeping it damped down until fire fighters can arrive. This means that instead of running into dangerous burning buildings, fire fighters are often extinguishing small fires in relative safety. Fire sprinklers save lives—not just for the people in a burning building, but also for the fire fighters themselves.

Fire sprinklers stop fires in their tracks, reducing lives lost, property damage and risk to fire fighters. It’s no wonder so many fire fighting professionals are advocates of fire sprinkler systems—and why fire sprinklers are the perfect partners for fire brigades.