Yes. Most fatal home fires occur at night when people are sleeping. The very young, older adults and people with disabilities are at the greatest risk. Fires are fast: they can become deadly in three minutes. When it comes to modern builds, they can be more deadly because of modern building materials, furniture and furnishings.
Fire sprinklers offer the highest degree of fire protection and are critical in saving lives and property. Each year, fire sprinklers save thousands of properties across the country. Numerous Australian and international studies have repeatedly demonstrated that automatic sprinklers give occupants around a 90% improvement in surviving a typical house fire. No other single residential fire safety measure is comparable to the life-saving benefits of fire sprinklers.
Adequate fire safety measures are particularly important for people with disabilities, as they are among the most vulnerable in emergencies. Worldwide examples highlight the dire consequences when effective fire reduction and evacuation systems are lacking. In the context of SDA, fire sprinklers extend the time all occupants have to safely escape – including carers – and significantly reduce the risks to responding firefighters.
The Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) Design Standard recommends fire sprinklers are provided for all design categories; however it is an optional specification. Relying on voluntary implementation of fire sprinklers in SDA accommodation places SDA Participants at risk.
Home sprinkler systems are far cheaper than the systems installed in commercial buildings. The cost of installing a home sprinkler system into a new house will vary depending on the size of the house and how many sprinkler heads are installed.
There are a number of options available on the market. For example, the FPAA101D system – a Deemed-to-Satisfy solution referenced in the National Construction Code – offers a cost-effective solution. The 2018 Australian Building Codes Board Regulatory Impact Statement calculated that installing FPAA101D rather than an AS 2118 system would save approximately $100K in construction and maintenance costs per typical mid-rise apartment building (in 2023 AUD).
No. There are several types of automatic fire sprinkler heads, each designed to be used in a particular application and dwelling. For example, pendant sprinkler heads are typically used in commercial, retail and industrial buildings. For residential installations, concealed heads are recommended as they can be mounted behind a colour-matched cover plate that sits flush to the ceiling. Concealed heads are as unobtrusive as possible, while still offering protection against accidental operation or tampering.
Smoke alarms are mandatory in every home. However, they can only detect a fire, not suppress or control it. Fire sprinklers detect the fire and automatically control it, saving lives and property. In the 7-10 minutes an urban fire department needs to respond, an uncontrolled fire can grow and spread throughout the home, causing tremendous smoke and fire. A sprinkler can detect and activate in a much shorter time, controlling a fire and increasing the time for occupants to safely escape.
No. A sprinkler flows at 38–98 litres of water per minute. Only the one sprinkler closest to the fire opens. All the other sprinklers remain sealed, so the water is confined to just the area of the fire. The property loss in a sprinklered home fire is a small fraction of the typical loss in an unsprinklered home fire.
Read more at Environmental Impact of Fire Sprinklers
Fire sprinklers are simple, reliable and proven: sprinkler mishaps (such as leaks) are generally less likely and less severe than home plumbing system problems. In fact, there’s only a 1 in 16 million chance they’ll discharge accidentally. Read more at How Fire Sprinklers Work
Yes. Building fires can have a significant impact on the environment. For example, as combustible materials burn, they release carbon dioxide and other toxic gases. Firefighter intervention in an uncontrolled fire requires a large amount of water to extinguish the flames, and the wastewater from firefighting often contains pollutants from the burnt material in the home, which can end up in waterways.
Fire sprinklers are effective in minimising the environmental impact of building fires as outlined below:
- Fire Sprinklers control the spread of fire significantly reducing its size and damage (up to 97%).
- Reducing the size and amount of combustible material consumed by the fire subsequently reduces the carbons and toxic gases released (by 97.8%).
- Firefighter intervention in a sprinkler-controlled fire requires much less water resulting in a fraction of the waste water (up to 91% less total water used).
- Smaller fires result in less disposal of damaged material and less reconstruction, consuming less carbon overall.
Read more at Environmental Impact of Fire Sprinklers
In the 7-10 minutes an urban fire department needs to respond, an uncontrolled fire can grow and spread throughout the home, causing tremendous smoke and fire. A sprinkler can detect and activate in a much shorter time, controlling a fire and increasing the time for you to safely escape. Read more at the Home Fire Timeline
Sprinklers activate independently; only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate. Read more at How Fire Sprinklers Work