Fire may smolder for hours before bursting into flame, but, once flame appears, it may take only two minutes for a fire to spread to the contents, walls, and ceilings of an entire room. Once that has happened, heat, flames, or carbon monoxide will kill every occupant of the room almost immediately. Such attempts to reduce fire losses might provide not only difficult to implement but largely ineffective in reducing fire losses below their current level. Experience and testing now show that a far more effective step would be to install automatic sprinklers and smoke detectors in all buildings and residences. The US Fire Administration estimates that these combined fire protection systems would reduce injuries, loss of life, and property damage by at least 50 percent.
Sprinklers are the most reliable and effective fire protection system known.
In 1,648 fires in New York City highrises between 1969 and 1978, sprinklers were over 98 percent effective in suppressing and extinguishing fires The US Department of Energy reports no loss of life in 115 fires from 1952 through 1980 in sprinkler-protected facilities of all types. These tests indicated that sprinkler systems can be expected to effectively control fires. The four model building codes recognize the value of sprinklers in buildings where rapid evacuation of occupants is difficult for the hazard posed by the contents is high. Some federal agencies, states, and municipalities are going even further than the model building codes to require sprinkler installations. 34 states allow local jusidications to adopt regulations which exceed or modify state requirements for automatic sprinkler systems.