We have now filed our 200th U.S. patent application and received 90 U.S. patents for OpenBlue energy optimization innovations.
About two weeks ago, we launched the Community College partnership program aimed at expanding and advancing associate degree and certificate programs in HVAC, fire and security and digital building automation systems across the U.S. Over the next five years, Johnson Controls will grant $15 million to nonprofit community colleges in support of academic programs that train and develop the next generation of skilled trades technicians.
Ultimately, the actions we are taking are designed to drive 200 or 300 basis points of above-market growth, which would place us firmly in the mid-single-digit annual growth range for the entire $6-plus billion in revenues.
In the quarter, service revenue increased 11%, in line with the rebound we expected with double-digit growth across all three regions.
Order growth also accelerated, as expected, up 13%.
And our attachment rate year-to-date has now improved close to 400 basis points, already achieving our guidance range for the full year.
And nearly $250 billion, sustainability and decarbonization is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we are excited about our role in leading these critical trends.
Organic sales accelerated in Q3, up 15% overall, in line with the guidance we provided last quarter as growth in Global Products and our field businesses accelerated.
Segment EBITA increased 21% versus the prior year and segment EBITA margin expanded 30 basis points to 16.2%.
EPS of $0.83 increased 24%, benefiting from higher profitability as well as a lower share count.
Free cash flow in the quarter was $735 million, flat versus the prior year despite the planned uptick in capex.
Orders for our field businesses increased 18% year-over-year, accelerating at a faster pace than expected, led by continued strength in retrofit project activity, which we include in install, but also stabilization in new construction activity.
Service orders recovered above pre-pandemic level, up 13%, led primarily by improving conditions for our transactional service business.
Backlog grew 7% to $10 billion with service backlog up 5% and installed backlog up 7%.
Operations were a $0.16 tailwind versus the prior year, driven by higher volumes and favorable mix, partially offset by price cost and the reversal of prior year mitigating cost actions.
Excluding this impact, underlying incrementals in Q3 were just over 30%.
We're on track with our SG&A productivity program, which equated to a benefit of around $0.03.
North America revenues grew 8% organically with solid growth in both service and install.
Service revenues were higher in all domain, driven by a sharp rebound in our transactional service business, which increased nearly 30%.
Segment margin decreased 70 basis points year-over-year to 14.7% as North America experienced the most headwinds from the reversal of temporary cost given the majority of the action in the prior year related to furloughs and other employee compensation-related expense.
Orders in North America accelerated on a sequential basis and grew 18% versus the prior year with mid-teens growth in Fire & Security and performance infrastructure.
Commercial HVAC orders were up over 20% overall, driven by strong retrofit activity with equipment orders up over 50%.
Backlog to $6.2 billion increased 6% year-over-year.
Revenue in EMEALA increased 17% organically, led by strong recovery in installed activity.
Non-resi construction grew more than 25% in the quarter, with most verticals returning to 2019 levels, led by increased demand for energy-related infrastructure projects.
Fire & Security, which accounts for nearly 60% of segment revenues inflected sharply, growing at a mid-20s rate in Q3 and surfacing 2019 levels.
Industrial refrigeration grew 20% and commercial HVAC and controls grew high single digits.
By geography, revenue growth in Europe accelerated to nearly 25%, while the Middle East declined low double digits and Latin America increased 10%.
Segment EBITA margins increased 250 basis points, driven by volume leverage and the benefit of SG&A actions.
Orders in EMEALA accelerated further, increasing 22% in the quarter with strong growth in Fire & Security and Commercial HVAC.
APAC revenues increased 14% organically with install and service increasing by the same amount.
EBITA margins declined 380 basis points year-over-year to 11.8% as the benefit of volume leverage was more than offset by the significant temporary cost mitigation actions taken in the prior year and geographic mix.
APAC orders grew 14%, driven by continued strength in Commercial HVAC in China and recovery in controls business in Japan.
Global Products revenue grew 21% on an organic basis in the quarter, in line with what we initially expected despite incremental headwinds related to COVID lockdown in Asia and the short-term supply chain restrictions.
Our global Residential HVAC business was up 16% in the quarter, with strong growth in all regions.
Although not reflected in our revenue growth, our iSense joint venture grew revenue 44% year-over-year in Q3, expanding our leading shares in China.
Commercial HVAC sales improved significantly up more than 20% with our indirect applied business up more 25%.
Light commercial industry up over 20%, led by the recovery in North America and VRF up high single digits.
Fire & Security products growth was above 30%, led by continued strength in our security business, which grew over 40% in the quarter.
EBITDA margin expanded 140 basis points year-over-year to 20.9% as volume leverage, positive mix increased equity income and the benefit of SG&A actions more than offset the significant temporary cost actions taken in the prior year as well as current price cost pressure.
As expected, corporate expense increased significantly year-over-year of an abnormally low level to $70 million.
For the full year, we now expect corporate expense to be in the range of $280 million to $285 million, slightly below the low end of the prior guide.
Our balance sheet remains healthy with leverage of roughly 1.8 times, still below our targeted range of 2 times to 2.5 times.
On cash, we generated $735 million in free cash flow in the quarter, bringing us to nearly $1.7 billion year-to-date.
For the full year, we expect free cash flow conversion to be approximately 105%.
During the third quarter, we repurchased a little more than 5 million shares for roughly $340 million, which brings us to around 19 million shares year-to-date, completing our $1 billion program.
We expect to repurchase an incremental $350 million of shares in Q4.
For the full year, we're raising our guidance once again and now target adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.64 to $2.66.
This puts the midpoint at the high end of our previous earnings per share guidance of $2.58 to $2.65.
Based on our strong performance year-to-date and the continued underlying momentum we are seeing in most of our end markets, we continue to expect organic sales growth in the mid-single digits.
Segment EBITA margins are tracking toward the high end of our most recent range, and we now expect 80 to 90 basis points of expansion for the full year, which includes a 10-basis point headwind related to the acquisition of Silent-Aire.
Based on the full year guide, Q4 adjusted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $0.86 to $0.88, which assumes mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and 30 basis points of segment EBITA margin expansion.

Summary:
EPS of $0.83 increased 24%, benefiting from higher profitability as well as a lower share count.
For the full year, we're raising our guidance once again and now target adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.64 to $2.66.
Based on our strong performance year-to-date and the continued underlying momentum we are seeing in most of our end markets, we continue to expect organic sales growth in the mid-single digits.
Based on the full year guide, Q4 adjusted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $0.86 to $0.88, which assumes mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and 30 basis points of segment EBITA margin expansion.