The Vital Need to Protect New Homes is Focus of Home Fire Sprinkler Week

QUINCY, MA May 10, 2023 – In every community, home fires are a severe threat to residents as well as responding firefighters. The fire death problem is in homes where 75% of fire deaths happen. While fire sprinklers are widely available and the only technology that can stop a fire from becoming deadly, most new homes still are not protected. In fact, each year more than one million homes are built, with sprinklers in fewer than 10% of them.

Modern furnishings, open spaces and unprotected lightweight wood construction, which make home fires deadly in two minutes or less, intensify today's home fire problem. To confront this stubborn public safety burden, fire departments and safety advocates across North America will team up May 14-20 during Home Fire Sprinkler Week. Together, they will amplify the message that fire sprinklers stop a fire from becoming deadly, protecting residents and firefighters.

Home Fire Sprinkler Week Live Event May 15th – With this in mind, national fire safety leaders are joining together to underscore both the home fire problem and the importance of home fire sprinkler installations. U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore Merrell; Chief Donna Black, president, International Association of Fire Chiefs; and National Fire Protection Association president Jim Pauley will headline a live-stream event May 15 at 1:00 pm EST.

There will be a live ceremony at Reliable Automatic Sprinkler in Liberty, South Carolina, where Shane Ray, president, National Fire Sprinkler Association, will donate a fire and sprinkler demonstration trailer to the South Carolina Fire Sprinkler Coalition. Speakers include SC State Fire Marshal Jonathan Jones and Kevin Fee, president/CEO of Reliable. Pam Elliott, a fire safety advocate who experienced burn injuries as a child in a house fire, and Gail Minger, a fire safety advocate who lost her son in a fire, will join them. Following the ceremony, Shane Ray will moderate a fire and sprinkler demonstration with the new trailer.

YouTube Link to the LIVE Event: https://youtube.com/live/zrYSnzqofWg?feature=share

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