Supports sprinklers in Arlignton Hts.

I applaud the Arlington Heights Building Code Review Board for their due diligence in researching and recommending that all new homes be protected by automatic fire sprinkler systems.

For years municipalities, including Arlington Heights, have had codes that require fire sprinklers in new commercial, multifamily residential, and industrial buildings — however, mandating fire sprinklers in new single-family homes never seems to generate much support.

The National Fire Protection Association reported that in 2005 there were:

타 396,000 residential one- and two-family home fires

타 3,055 civilian deaths

타 13,825 civilian fire deaths

타 $6.9 billion in property damage

Eight out of 10 fire deaths are a result of a fire in someone’s home, and one-half of all fire losses occur in these fires. NFPA statistics show that in a home with fire sprinklers and smoke detection 95 percent of fires are survivable and that the fire sprinklers will control the fire at near its point of origin 91 percent of the time.

Quick extinguishment of the blaze also reduces the production of carbon monoxide which causes far more deaths than actual burns.

And what about increasing the safety to the firefighters? Statistics show that there are far more firefighter injuries and deaths as a result of single-family home fires then any other structure fire.

The average response time for the fire departments in the Northwest suburbs is 5-6 minutes. In a majority of cases a single sprinkler head had either extinguished or at least controlled the spread of a fire prior to the arrival of the first fire engine.

New construction methods are not the cause of fires, it’s what we put in them that creates the hazard, and no matter how safety conscious we may be; accidents do happen.

NFPA research shows smoke detectors can increase our chances of survival to 60 percent; the addition of fire sprinklers increases that to over 85 percent.

Jim Eriksen

Arlington Heights