daqatch

There are many good arguments made in the blogs, but there are several comments that I would like to make that I have not seen. First off I have been a volunteer firefighter for 10 years now and have been in many structure fires. Over the last 10 years, there have only been 3 deaths in my coverage area and adjoining areas which we assist and one two of those the people were dead before the fire started. My concerns with the sprinkler systems are as follows: 1) I have 4 children 6 yrs and under. They are very active in the house, especially in the winter, and the balls and toys end up flying everywhere. What happens when that toy hits the sprinkler head? There is a good chance you will have a room flooding with water. 2) I saw a comment about smoke detectors not being located close enough to the kitchen and I agree, but what happens when you have a fire in the kitche? Primarily those fires start during cooking and most contain grease and what happens when you put water on a grease fire? You got it, it spreads rather than putting the fire out. 3) A sprinkler does not activate until there is a sufficient fire to create enough heat to activate this head. Alot of times this may be too late to save a life. By this time there is sufficient smoke within the structure to make it very difficult for people to get out. My opinion is that requiring more early detection devices (smoke detectors) and mandating an emergency excape route from any floor above ground level would save more lives than sprinklers. The sprinklers may help save property due to fire spread in most situation, but I don't think they would have any additional benifit to saving lives. Although, I my experience as a firefighter, the majority of the damage to a home with a fire is due to water and smoke, not the actual fire unless the home is not saved.