Linthicum Heights, MD, Feb. 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A building that is not fully equipped with fire sprinklers puts occupants, pets, and firefighters at risk. This is especially true in high-rise buildings. On February 18th, a fire broke out on the seventh floor of a Silver Spring, MD residential high-rise that left one dead, dozens injured, and hundreds displaced. This tragic fire in Montgomery County, Maryland represents the severity of modern-day fire. Thanks to Montgomery County Fire & Rescue, one of the best trained, best equipped fire departments in this country, more people didn’t die in this fire.
Firefighters are at increased risk in any type of residential fire because of the volume of contents we have in our homes and the synthetic material they are made from. The more floors there are in a residential building, the higher the risk, from a townhouse to a high-rise.
Maryland has led the way in the U.S. for its progressive stance on fire protection. The University of Maryland has one of the best fire protection engineering schools in the country, with graduates living and working around the world to keep people and property safe, yet this fire happened in their backyard. It’s not because the State of Maryland and the great fire departments in Maryland haven’t tried, it’s because the owners of these high-rise buildings fail to comply with fire department orders, and local and state laws.
“I just gave a speech in Maryland last week, bragging about state and local officials for doing what no other state in the country has done over the last 30 years; reduce the number of people who die in fires by 52%,”, said National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) President Shane Ray. Ray spent 30 years in the fire service before becoming president of NFSA. “I have watched the fire environment change in my career and it continues to get worse. Our colleagues at Underwriters Laboratories Fire Safety Research Institute continually conduct research that proves this.”
There should be no housing that isn’t fire safe in this country. According to the National Fire Protection Association, working residential fire sprinklers control fires 96% of the time. When fire sprinklers are present, people are 81% less likely to die in a home fire and property damage is reduced by about 70%. There has never been a multiple fatality in a building equipped with a properly operating fire sprinkler system…never! American has a fire problem, we have the answer. How many more lives must be lost until we act to prevent further tragedies?
About the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA): NFSA was founded in 1905 and wants to create a more fire safe world and works to heighten the awareness of the importance of fire sprinkler systems from homes to high-rise and all occupancies in between. The Association is an inclusive organization made up of dedicated and committed members of a progressive life-saving industry. This industry manufactures, designs, supplies, installs, inspects, and services the world’s most effective system in saving lives and property from uncontrolled structural fires.
For more information about fire sprinklers, how they work and access to additional resources and information, visit www.nfsa.org for the latest material, statistics and a dedicated team of fire safety advocates ready to serve all stakeholders in order to fulfill the vision of a safer world.
Vickie Pritchett National Fire Sprinkler Association 615-533-0305 pritchett@nfsa.org
