The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) has responded to media-reported child fire fatalities since the beginning of 2022 calling for improved fire protection measures.
The Association has logged news articles that report 217 children as victims of fatal fires since January. These fires occurred in apartments, town homes, single family residences and condominiums. NFSA said that although the residences varied, one thing did not; none were equipped with fire sprinklers.
“We can do better, and we can do more,” said NFSA President Shane Ray. “Losing children in fires underscores the importance of fire protection, and there’s no better prevention technology than fire sprinklers. This also reminds us that fire risks increase during the holidays.”
He continued: “We represent the most effective means of buying you time to escape a fire and for the fire department to arrive. We also represent the only product in residences that is singled out in 26 state laws as prohibited in the code adoption process. Shame on these states.
“The deaths of these children and the thousands of others that die in fire in the future are on the hands of those who work to exclude fire sprinklers.”
NFSA collects information from across the country on when fire sprinklers save lives and property. Over 37,000 people have died in building fires since 2010 without fire sprinklers. In the same time period, only 68 people have died in building fires with fire sprinklers.
“It doesn’t matter how old the residence is, it’s the contents that kill people and causes cancer to firefighters,” Ray added. “According to the United States Fire Administration there has been a 24% increase in fire deaths. This will only continue to get worse as more houses are built with more and more unregulated contents that are brought into this country.”
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