Two organizations dedicated to fire prevention have chosen a day on which a technology that can do just that will be the focus.

The National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) and the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) have designated May 19, 2018 as Home Fire Sprinkler Day.

Home fires claim the lives of seven people each day. The NFPA says home fire sprinklers can help eliminate these tragedies, but legislative barriers and a general unawareness of this technology have prevented its use in new homes.

The goal of Home Fire Sprinkler Day: to allow fire service and safety advocates to take action in unison to raise national awareness of these challenges and a fire sprinkler’s life-saving ability.

This project tasks safety advocates across the U.S. with hosting simultaneous events promoting home fire sprinklers. While raising awareness of the home fire problem, these events will also underscore the life-saving impact of fire sprinklers and legislative barriers to its use. The aim is to have the fire service and other safety advocates host at least one sprinkler-related event on the same day in all 50 states.

“The alarming number of home fire deaths and injuries each year should be on the radar of every decision maker and member of the media,” says Lorraine Carli, NFPA’s vice president of Outreach and Advocacy and HFSC’s president. “Through this event, we hope to illuminate the fire problem and its solution on a national scale. Fire sprinklers have been a U.S. model building code requirement since 2009, yet challenges to its adoption still exist. Taking action collectively will send a powerful message that fire sprinklers are widely accepted and must be embraced in every state.”

Some possible activities include:

• Host a side-by-side live burn/fire sprinkler demonstration
• Conduct a fire department open house featuring fire sprinkler information and sprinkler riser display

The event’s webpage outlines ways to take action and resources for a successful event. Please visit NFPA.org/FireSprinklerDay for more information.

About the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC)

HFSC was formed in 1996 to inform the public about the life-saving value of sprinkler protection in one- and two-family homes. HFSC is a purely educational, nonprofit organization and the leading resource for independent, noncommercial information about home fire sprinklers. For more information about HFSC and home fire sprinklers, visit www.homefiresprinkler.org.

About the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

Founded in 1896, NFPA is a global, nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPA mission. For more information, visit www.nfpa.org. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed online for free at www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.