To give you an idea of how important having fire sprinklers, smoke detectors, and other fire prevention methods are, I wanted to provid you with some of the stats and information available about fires.

Many of you might say that you really don't need to be reminded. You already know how important fire safety is. However, what you are more than likely thinking is that a fire will not happen to you. It will always, always happen to someone else. When you look at some of these numbers, try to understand that this is happening on a yearly basis and it's happening over and over. And it's not happening to the same people over and over. These stats are bound to catch up with you and your home eventually:

• On average, more than 220,000 fire are reported annualy
• On average, more than 5,300 civilian fire deaths occur
• On average, more than 29,000 civilian fire injuries occur
• On average, the annual property loss resulting from fire is $9.5 billion
  

Those are some very big numbers for this country alone. The 3 leading cuases of residential fires are Cooking, Heating, and Arson.

• Residential fires account for between 69 and 75% of civilian fire deaths
• Residential fires account for between 37 and 46% of the property loss
• On average, 24% of firefighter deaths occur in residential fires
• On average, 58% of firefighter injuries occur in residential fires
• Nearly 50% of fire deaths occur in fires reported from11pm to 6am
• Children continue to have double the nations fire death rate
  

The most interesting and sad statistic is that - nationwide - less than 3% of all homes have fire sprinklers installed.

3%...

That is mostly new construction homes built in the last few years and it's mostly more affluent homes. Is it expensive to have fire sprinklers retrofitted into your home? Yes. Back in 1990, The U.S. Fire Administration reports that a fire sprinkler system could be installed in a home that is undergoing a remodeling or rehabilitation for an average cost of $1.98 per square foot. For a 2400 square foot house, that cost would be $4752. Of course, those were 1990 stats and the price has come down. By 1997, they reported the cost had dropped to $0.59 per square foot $1416 in the same size house.) With new technologies and new systems, as well as more installers being in the market, the price could be even better for installing sprinklers in your home.

Also, check with your insurance company. Installing sprinklers in your home could save you a lot of money in insurance payments.

If you'd like to talk to a local Fire Sprinkler Installation company to find out how much it would cost to retrofit your house, post your project on ConstructionDeal.com. It's a free service to get matched with a sprinkler installer in your area.

Labels: Fire Statistics, Home Sprinkler Installation, Residential Fire Sprinklers