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recently deaths have happened due to home fires
They could have been avoided if the homes had a fire sprinkler system.
What do you think can be done to assure that every home has this vital fire supresion equipment ?We can’t ensure that every home has a sprinkler system. That’s an expensive safety measure.
Umein V’Umein. We lost our home in a fire several years ago to an electric panel fire which the fire departmnt and insurance adjuster said would have been extinguished by a sprinkler system. Fortunately no one was hurt, just lost a lot of stuff. When we rebuilt, we discovered the cost of th sprinkler system was relatively minimal compred to the overall reconstruction cost. That was because we had gutted the house. These costs are much higher for retrofit into existing structures, especially older, multi-family housing. Without government subsidies, I doubt it would be affordable to most owners or renters (who would have to pay the landlord’s costs).
Let’s start with a more practical, achievable solutions. Those lives were lost because they either had nonfunctional fire alarms or no alarms at all.
Every home should have an alarm at each level of the home. They should also have carbon monoxide detectors.For those that have the funds a fire sprinkler system
Is the best investment to protect lives and property.A sprinkler system would ruin a lot, if not most, of your property. If you have so much money you’re better off putting a fire retardant coating on everything in your house.
In NYC I believe the law requires sprinkler systems in new construction of 3 units or more.
Mandating sprinklers in new homes is wrong. New furniture is in old homes also. Newly constructed homes are safer than ever before and to imply that new homes are not safe is mis leading. what right does any municipality have to FORCE a potential home owner to spend thousands of dollars when an interconnecting smile alarm with battery backup is a proven life saving device.
kitov -“They could have been avoided if the homes had a fire sprinkler system”
So Not True! I believe one of the disadvantages of the internet – that anyone can present themselves as an expert!
One of my first areas of knowledge is fire safety. E/O can protect themselves very cheaply. Take a fire safety course. Buy fire-extinguishers, smoke detectors & an escape ladder for 2nd floor dwellers. This won’t cost an arm and a leg!
Here’s a freebie – there must be 2 escape routes from every room.When Mrs. CTL designed a house last year for a local client, the client wanted a sprinkler system. The local building codes don’t require them, but do require hardwired smoke and CO alarms.
She and the client ran the plans by the Underwriter for insurance (carrier the customer uses is a top notch name brand). Underwriter came back with quotes that were higher if a sprinkler system was installed than without. Here in New England, winter storms can and do bring power outages and frozen pipes. The exposure for internal damage from ceiling level sprinkler pipes raises the rates.
Our local Fire Marshal expressed his view that in small towns such as ours where so many have wells and not city water, the pressure would not be sufficient to put out a blaze before the fire company would respond with a pumper.Lots of good points here. (Especially about frozen pipes where I live 🙂 Whether or not you have a sprinkler system must depend on your individual circumstances, but having enough smoke alarms is a must – and also have a plan for making sure the batteries are working. Maybe include a regular test just before Shabbos (when a lot of fires occur in our community) or at least Rosh Chodesh.
And definitely have hand fire extinguishers where you can get them easily, and keep them charged. Fires move fast. I recently had a fire and discovered that my fire extinguisher had expired. BH I was able to put it out, but it was close. The house would have been gone before the fire department could get there. Fire blankets are also a good purchase. Likewise Health’s idea of a ladder for the second floor. And have fire drills, so your kids know exactly how to get out.
Important to make sure all your electrical appliances are safe, too. There was a fire in Brooklyn a few years ago where seven children (I think that was the number) were killed, and it was started by a Shabbos electric plate. (They also had no smoke alarms.)
Best of all – contact your local fire department and they will give you all the info you need. Stay safe!
Kitov:
We heard about the defective Federal Pacific panels during the insurance investigation of our fire. In our case, the fire resulting from a defective circuit breaker on the heat pump circuit within a different brand of panel. The smoke alarm went off, the fire department arrived within a few minutes but the house was a total loss (mix of fire and smoke damage). The fire investigator indicated that a sprinkler system might not have put out the fire entirely but would have slowed its progression considerably until the fire department arrived and also would have minimized smoke damage which as many of you know, is generally more destructive than structural damage. Obviously, all those who say that good smoke detectors are better than nothing is true along with other common sense fire safety measures to escape the fire. However, from a property damage perspective, sprinkler systems are great investments (especially where you can also afford to install a backup generator like we did to protect against frozen pipes in the event of a power loss).
P.S. Servpro handles both smoke damage from a fire and water damage from burst sprinkler system pipes.Gadolhadorah -“The smoke alarm went off”
If you had taken a fire safety course, you would have known how to use a fire-extinguisher; thereby saving your house!
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