Updated 8/30/21
A working fire alarm and sprinkler system is an absolute must for any commercial building, as they are usually required by law as part of building safety codes. There are options to consider when it comes to finding the right fire protection sprinkler company to work with. Consider their products and service options, their fees, and their reputation. The bottom line is that having a good building fire sprinkler system is one of the best steps you can take to prepare for a fire.
You can buy fire sprinkler heads and upgrades that are designed to work for your building layout with a professional automatic fire sprinkler company. You can go with a local company, an individual contractor, or a bigger national named company. The important thing is that you get the protection you need for your building. So, get started today and get the latest in fire suppression systems, automatic water sprayer setups, and invest in your company and your future by protecting everything the best you can. Fires happen without warning, but you can still be as prepared as possible ahead of time.
Learn more about the importance of having a proper fire system in place below.
Whether you’re a business owner or a homeowner, we know you probable want to protect your property, the assets in it, and the humans who pass through the thresh hold of your business. One great factor in doing this is installing a good fire sprinkler system. Did you know that according to the National Fire Protection Association, there is no record of a fire ever taking more than one life in a building that has properly functioning fire sprinkler systems? In fact, if your building has a combination of fire alarm systems and fire sprinkler systems, you improve the odds of everyone making it out of the fire without injury by 82%, and reduce the likelihood of damage if your building caught fire by a whopping 97%.
Even though the facts speak for themselves, many building owners do not think that installing a fire sprinkler system is worth the cost or trouble. Some people who neglect to install a fire sprinkler system are following misguided logic in their decision. To help ensure your property and the people in it are adequately protected, we’ve put together a list of common reasons people don’t install fire sprinkler systems, and they’re wrong.
Here are four excuses for not installing a fire sprinkler system in your business or home.
1. “I have a smoke alarm on every floor. That’s enough right?”
Having a smoke alarm on every floor and room that people sleep in is an important step in protecting your building, but the function of a smoke alarm does not replace the function of a sprinkler system.
A good fire alarm serves three purposes: to evacuate people from the building, alert the fire department, and to alert the management personnel of the situation. This is a very important job, and you should have a fire alarm along with a sprinkler system. However, the fire alarm does nothing to actually put out the fire. It takes a fire only three minutes to transition a small flame into an engulfing flame. The fire department will definitely take more than three minutes to reach the building. If you have a sprinkler system in place, the fire is put out before the damage is done.
2. “I don’t want my entire building to be drenched with water if I burn my toast.”
We’ve all seen movies where a small flame in one room sets off the sprinklers and suddenly it’s like an indoor version of Noah’s Ark. This is actually inaccurate for a number of reasons. First of all, sprinklers are not triggered by smoke, as fire alarms are. Your burnt toast will not set off a fire sprinkler system. A sprinkler system is only triggered if the internal sensor reaches a temperature that can only be reached if there is an actual open flame in the room.
Secondly, only the sprinkler that is triggered emits water. If you have a fire in the kitchen, the sprinklers in the kitchen will go off. This is enough to contain the fire 90% of the time. If the fire does happen the spread, the sprinklers in the impacted areas will go off, as they are triggered. The areas that are untouched by fire will remain untouched by water. Hollywood doesn’t portray that in movies because, boring.
3. “The fire department is incredibly fast, they will arrive right away if there was a fire.”
We give huge props to the men and women who save lives with the fire department. They are incredibly fast and efficient at protecting people in a fire. However, even if you live right next door to a department, your sprinkler system is able to spring into action almost instantly; a lot faster than the fire department could get to it. Those first minutes are critical in getting the fire out.
4. “Sprinkler systems are expensive and waste water.”
The cost of installing a sprinkler system is about $1.36 per square foot of the area it protects. To put that in perspective, installing carpet costs about $2.00 per square foot. And your carpet doesn’t save lives.
Meanwhile, your sprinkler system saves a lot of water. If your building were of fire, the sprinkler system can extinguish it using about one-tenth of the amount of water that the fire department would need to use.
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