How Residential Fire Sprinklers Protect Us and Why more people die of smoke inhalation

Most people who die in a fire are dead before the fire reaches them. Smoke inhalation often kills by searing the lungs, but not always. Often, smoke causes severe pulmonary irritation--if a fire burns through insulation or other toxic substances, those toxins get into the smoke, and into the victim's lungs.

Fire officials estimate that 50%-80% of fire-related deaths are ultimately caused by smoke inhalation. Residential fire sprinklers protect against smoke inhalation in several ways.

First, residential fire sprinklers typically extinguish a fire before it gets big enough to be dangerous. Residential fire sprinklers go into action the minute a fire starts, dumping water on the core of the fire and dropping its core temperature to the point where it can no longer burn.

Residential fire sprinklers are usually more effective than a brigade of firefighters, because they work so quickly--by the time firefighters arrive at a burning home, it's often too late. However, residential fire sprinklers also protect against smoke inhalation in other ways. As they fall, water droplets attach to particles in the smoke, weighing them down and thinning out the smoke. Smoke from a fire in a sprinkler-protected building is thinner and less lethal--although you should still exit the house immediately if your residential fire sprinkler system is activated.

Residential fire sprinkler systems are far more effective than any other method of home fire protection. Your chances of survival go up dramatically in homes with residential fire sprinkler systems installed.

Smoke detectors are still the best method for an early warning system and they should be tested at least once a year.

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