Why are more and more people installing fire sprinkler systems in their homes?

Because dangerous residential fires in homes without residential fire sprinkler systems are more common than most people realize. Every fifteen minutes across the U.K., firefighters respond to thirty fire alarms-that's 2880 fire alarms in one 24-hour period, and about 71,000 alarms per year.

In fact, the risk of fire is so high, you have a one-in-five chance of experiencing at least one severe fire in your home during your lifetime.

More and more families are deciding that the lives of their loved ones are too precious to risk on that one-in-five chance.

Here's what happens when people lose out on that risk:

A fire sweeps through a Manchester home late at night, killing a mother and three young children before they have a chance to wake and escape. These deaths would have been prevented with fire sprinkler systems.

A home in Albion, Rochdale, goes up in flames in the early morning. An adult woman was critically injured, and two children-aged 11 months and three years-died in the fire. A third child, aged 9, died later in the hospital of fire-related injuries. If fire sprinkler systems had been installed in this home, these people would have lived and the fire prevented.

Two children die in a fire that started in a London flat. The children were aged two and four years. There were no fire sprinkler systems installed.

Three handicapped people die in a Logan County house fire. The residents were aged 79, 53, and 51-and their disabilities made them unable to escape the home quickly. There are no fire sprinkler systems in this home, and the fire is so severe that nothing is left of the house but a few scraps of mangled furniture.

Five people die in a ferocious Manchester house fire. A mother, an uncle, and three young children lose their lives. The family's only survivor is the woman's husband, who had left for work earlier that morning.

All of these tragedies could have been avoided-if there had been fire sprinkler systems installed in these homes.

Most of these children are under five years old. Unable to understand basic fire safety completely, young children often hide in closets or under beds to escape fire and smoke. In the case of the unlucky ones, the fire spreads too quickly for parents or firefighters to reach them in time.

The handicapped and elderly are also extremely vulnerable in the case of a house fire-particularly if there are no fire sprinkler systems installed. These people are often unable to move far without assistance, making it difficult for them to get out of a burning house quickly enough to avoid danger.

All fires, great and small, need three things to survive: heat, fuel, and air.

Fires can start in many different ways. They typically happen when a large amount of energy is concentrated in a place where there is plenty of air and oxygen. The following sources can easily start a fire in your home:

A spark from a match, electrical cord, overloaded power strip, or other malfunctioning equipment.

Another flame, such as an explosion due to gas in the kitchen, an unattended candle, a fireplace or wood stove fire.

Intense heat, which can come from a light bulb, the sun's rays focused through a lens, a radiator or space heater in close proximity to flammable materials.

Most people don't realize how quickly a fire can spread. If exposed to enough heat and flammable material, a fire can rage out of control within minutes. You're not safe, even if your building has metal walls or a metal roof-a strong fire can melt many metals used in construction.

Because fires need three things-heat, fuel, and air-to survive, you can extinguish them in three ways:

Remove the fuel. A fire that runs out of fuel will eventually go out. This is how brush fires are sometimes controlled. If they have time, firefighters will clear a ring around the fire, removing all brush and other flammable materials. Left within the ring, the fire will burn itself out when it consumes all the available fuel.

Remove the oxygen. A fire can be extinguished if it is smothered quickly. That's what the "Stop, Drop and Roll" technique does-if your clothes catch fire, you can roll over the fire and cut it off from its air supply if you do it quickly enough. This puts the fire out.

Remove the heat. If the fire's core temperature drops below a sustainable amount, it will go out. This is how water usually puts out fire-it lowers the fire's internal temperature so that it cannot maintain its heat.

Fires can get out of control within minutes. But fire sprinkler systems work just as quickly as the fires do. Fire sprinkler systems dump enough water on a fire-at its source-that it lowers the fire's core temperature before the fire gets a chance to spread out of control.

Fire sprinkler systems also protect against death by smoke inhalation. Contrary to most people's belief, those caught in a fire often die of smoke inhalation long before the fire itself gets to them. Fire sprinkler systems eject water on the smoke produced by a fire, weighing down the larger particles in the smoke and making it thinner and less able to rise. This has saved thousands of lives from death by smoke inhalation-and made it easier for people to escape with their lives.

Installing fire sprinkler systems is the best decision you could possibly make for your family's safety.

When fire sprinkler systems are installed in homes, the first thing that's done is to construct a network of pipes throughout the house's ceilings and walls. In most residential fire sprinkler systems, these pipes are filled with water at all times. In some commercial buildings especially, these pipes may be filled with compressed air and connected to a water main or storage tank with a valve. This is done to protect the pipes from bursting during sub-freezing weather in buildings that are not constantly heated.

Once the water pipes are in place, the sprinkler heads are connected to the pipes in the ceiling. Fire sprinkler systems are hooked up to water pipes in your ceiling and walls. The network of water pipes is either filled with water at all times, or hooked up to your water main or a storage tank via a water pump or valve.

Each sprinkler head connected to fire sprinkler systems are designed to go off individually. Here's how it works: each sprinkler head contains either a glass bulb filled with heat-sensitive gases and liquids, or a series of seals that melt under extreme heat.

The moment a fire starts, a plume of hot gases rises toward the ceiling. This plume is hot enough to expand the gases and liquids in the glass bulb, or melt the fusible links within the sprinkler head-depending on design. Once that happens, a valve connecting to the network of pipes releases in the sprinkler head, causing it to eject a flow of water onto the fire. This lowers the fire's core temperature, extinguishing it before it gets out of hand.

Many people believe that fire sprinkler systems cause water damage worse than the damage a small fire can cause. This is not the case. Fire sprinkler systems are designed so that sprinkler heads go off individually, concentrating the water only in the areas where it's needed. Water damage is typically minimal in homes with fire sprinkler systems installed-as is fire damage.

Fire sprinkler systems have an astonishing record of safety and protection against fires.

1. A fire starts in a garden shed next to a Trowbridge home. The fire is so hot that it melts the kitchen door. This blazing-hot, severely out-of-control fire then spreads to the house-where it is stopped in its tracks by a single sprinkler head. Damage to the kitchen is minimal, and the new fire sprinkler systems protect the house from further harm.
   
   
2. A fire starts at 3 in the morning in the first floor of a college dormitory. Some students had thrown away still-smoldering cigarette ashes, and the ashes ignite in the combustible trash can. Fortunately, brand-new fire sprinkler systems had just been installed in the building-and the fire is extinguished without incident.
   
   
3. Vandals break into an Oldham school and set a cardboard box on fire. Only one sprinkler head from the school's fire sprinkler systems was activated-and it put out the fire immediately. The fire department is notified within minutes of the sprinkler head's activation-but by the time they arrive, the fire sprinkler systems have already extinguished the fire.
   
   
4. The Claye Souilly shopping centre in Paris is in danger of going up in flames after a spotlight gets too close to some clothing. A single sprinkler head from the shopping centre's fire sprinkler systems extinguishes the fire-and almost all of the shops are operating normally after only an hour.
   
   
5. A fluorescent light overheats in a factory in South Wales. The light drops onto the machinery, starting a fire. The heat from the fire trips the factory's fire sprinkler systems, which extinguish it within minutes. If there had not been fire sprinkler systems installed in the factory, the building would have been destroyed-resulting in twenty million pounds of damage and possible loss of life.

Installing fire sprinkler systems typically cost about as much as it would to re-carpet your home. Compare that to the billions of pounds lost annually to fire in the U.K.-and you'll see that the cost is well worth it.

But the reasons to install fire sprinkler systems go far beyond cost. A fire in your home would be devastating, not only to your bank account-but to your family. Over two thirds of fire-related deaths happen in the home-and many house fires end in tragedy.

Fire sprinkler systems save thousands of lives every day. Not a single fire fatality has ever been reported in homes with fire sprinkler systems installed. Wouldn't you want that kind of safety and fire protection for your family?

Install fire sprinkler systems in your home-and take yourself and your family out of the one-in-five risk pool forever. Fire sprinkler systems are the only fire safety devices that can practically guarantee that your family will never suffer harm as a result of fire. That kind of protection isn't just valuable-it's worth any price.