Home Fire Sprinklers-An Updated Look - Todd Hickman

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Sluggish real estate market or not, new home construction and existing home renovation and expansion, particularly along both sides of the Coastal Highway, continue unabated. In September of last year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a report entitled “Benefit-Cost Analysis of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems.” The study reported on the expected economic performance of fire sprinkler systems installed in newly constructed, single-family dwellings in the U.S. This column borrows heavily from that report. We offer this information in the hopes that all owners building new homes or renovating existing ones will consider installing sprinkler systems. Residential fires take a high toll of life and property. In 2006 there were 412,500 residential fires, 2,620 residential fire deaths, 12,925 residential fire injuries and $7.0 billion in residential property damage. Studies by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) suggest that sprinkler systems could have saved many of those lives, prevented a large portion of those injuries and eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in property losses. Studies dating back 25 years suggested that sprinkler systems were not cost-effective, which is probably why there is only a small number of houses equipped with fire sprinklers today. Since then, sprinkler technology has gotten simpler and cheaper, making installation far more appealing. The NIST report revisits the topic using reported fire incident data over the period of 2002 to 2005. This study period was selected due to the relative completeness of fire records nationwide, thus ensuring that the trends and patterns are representative of U.S. fire risks. Over that period, houses equipped with smoke alarms and a fire sprinkler system experienced 100 % fewer civilian fatalities, 57 % fewer civilian injuries and 32 % lower direct property losses and indirect costs than houses equipped only with smoke alarms. In addition, owners of dwellings with fire sprinkler systems received an added bonus of an 8% annual reduction in their insurance premiums. Sprinkler system installation costs reflect the minimum standards required by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), which promulgates many national and local building codes. The study considered three prototypical houses, a 3,338 square foot (sf), two-story colonial with basement, but not including the garage, a 2,257 sf, three-story townhouse and a 1,171 sf single-story ranch. Installation costs ranged from $829 to $2,075. Local experience suggests that the system cost for a 3,000 sf coastal home probably ranges from $5,000-10,000 including increased utility system hook-up expenses. That increased investment, however, does not, in our minds, obviate the study’s principal conclusion, which is that failing to install residential sprinkler systems is no longer supported on economic grounds. From our point of view, the fact that there has never been a civilian fatality in a single-family residence with a working sprinkler system trumps any financial analysis. Assistant treasurer and Rescue Lieutenant Todd Hickman, a native of Reston, VA, joined the BBVFC in 2004 after prior service with companies in Ashburn, VA and Rockville, MD. He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from High Point University and is a nationally certified firefighter II and EMT. Todd is a member of the Sussex County Technical Rescue Team, is division manager/vice president of NVHomes' Coastal Division and is a director for Junior Achievement of Delaware. He lives in Ocean View with his wife, Candace, and their two sons. He can be reached at [email protected].