“It is much easier to fix water damage than it is to fix fire damage,” was well on display during a residential fire sprinkler demonstration by Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue (CCFR) and Paul Davis Property Restoration Experts on Saturday, June 21, during Planters Days in Woodland.
Fire sprinklers save lives, CCFR Assistant Chief Mike Jackson said. This year alone, there have been 25 home fire-related fatalities, and not a single residence had a fire sprinkler, Jackson added.
“Going back, of course, 10 years, it’s 511 fatalities in Washington and none of those being protected with sprinklers,” Jackson said. “So we know just the effectiveness there that the fire sprinklers absolutely save lives, and that’s not just for occupants with controlling the fire and usually even extinguishing it, but worst case scenario, buying them a lot more time to get out of the building.”
In the 1970s, research was done that suggested a person inside a home catching on fire had 15 to 18 minutes to get out of the residence safely. But now, due to materials of home furnishings and construction, that time has dropped drastically to just three to four minutes.
As the fire demonstration trailer was out in the open, due to wind and the rainy conditions, the room without a fire sprinkler experience fire and smoke growth to fully engulfed flash over in six minutes, but in a more controlled environment like a fully enclosed room, the time is cut nearly in half, Jackson said. The room with a fire sprinkler had some obvious wet conditions, but the water squashed the flame and smoke damage.
“Homes are now constructed with much more open floor plans,” Jackson said. “So as the fire and smoke grows and develops, it’s not as compartmentalized as it was in older homes. So it spreads throughout the entire home quicker, spreading the fire and smoke so that it’s not as controlled, and the house becomes involved a lot quicker without fire sprinklers.”
Jackson has seen both results of a home without and ones with fire sprinklers during his career.
In a previous article by The Reflector, Jackson described a fire at a church living facility in Woodland, started by a candle that was controlled by a single sprinkler. No one was injured, and the building remained habitable that same day.
He said that oftentimes a home with fire sprinklers can be habitable just hours afterwards, but a home without — if not a total loss — can still take days, weeks or months due to smoke damage, as well as the damage from the flames.
Fire sprinklers are not required in most of Clark County, but they are mandated in certain areas, including locations within CCFR’s jurisdiction that pose higher fire risks such as flag lots, steep grades and roads with limited access. Camas, outside of CCFR’s jurisdiction, is the only city in Clark County that mandates fire sprinklers for newly constructed one or two-family homes.
Jackson estimates about half of the newly built homes in the district currently include sprinklers.
Fire sprinkler systems are not activated by a smoke alarm going off or a fire alarm being pulled, as Hollywood often portrays in film, Jackson said. Not even all of them go off at once in the case of a real fire emergency.
“Each individual sprinkler essentially works like a heat detector,” Jackson explained in the previous article that discussed common misconceptions about fire sprinklers. “Until that one sprinkler gets to the temperature where it activates — usually around 165 degrees — they stay intact.”
He recommended the addition of fire sprinklers during new home construction, saying the cost can often be included in a mortgage. And for people with the means to retrofit a fire suppression or sprinkler system in their existing home, Jackson recommends doing so, as well.
“Folks can certainly reach out to us if they have any questions or need recommendations or a point of contact for exploring those options a little bit,” Jackson said. “We’re always happy to help folks learn a little bit more and consider fire sprinklers for their own home.”
CCFR can be reached by calling 360-887-1684 for the community risk reduction team that includes fire inspection and fire marshall services and for the station 21 headquarters, call 360-887-4609. More information can be found at clarkfr.org/public-education/.
