The way to reduce death is to stop fires, and many fire experts agree that the most effective way to minimize casualties is through the use of automatic sprinklers and smoke detectors. How Fire Kills Deaths occur most frequently when fires rage out of control and occupants are unable to escape. The majority of these deaths occur in homes. This most common residential fire death scenario is ignition of upholstery, and mattresses by cigarettes. The primary cause of all fire deaths is smoke - not heat or flame.
Smoke always contains carbon monoxide which can be lethal.
Smoke also can impede escape if it develops quickly enough to obscure routes to safety Fire experts agree that to minimize fire's threat, a fire must be detected and suppressed while it is still small. 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.