Still another question raised about sprinklers is whether or not they activate accidentally. They do not. Probably most misreported incidences of fire sprinklers malfunctioning are actually attributable to burning food or cigarette smoking. Therefore, the system cost can be offset by insurance savings, making the system cost effective in the long run. To really see the need for mandatory sprinkler systems in all new construction, both residential and business, and for retrofit legislation to install sprinklers in existing public buildings only requires a study of fire-related statistics.
Nothing says it better than reality.
Individual lives have been lost when a victim or his clothing or immediate surroundings because the source of the fire. A National Fire Protection Association study for 1971-1975 found that approximately 20 lives are lost each year in America in buildings with sprinklers, as compared to approximate eight thousand per year in structures without sprinklers. Many building fires have been much worse, ending with fatalities. Fire and building safety officials have searched for a means to provide life safety for building occupants. In their search they have determined that factories, homes, and other structures equipped with automatic sprinklers had an amazingly good life-safety record compared with similar unsprinklered buildings.