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Foreword

Many of you know first-hand the life-saving impact residential sprinklers can have. With nearly 3,000 people dying in home fires each year, home fire sprinklers are a critical step in improving public safety in this country.

When sprinklers are present, the risk of dying in a home fire decreases by nearly 80 percent. Studies also have shown that sprinklers reduce the average property loss by 71 percent per fire. Not only do sprinklers help to protect the people who live in the home, they also provide greater protection to fire service personnel who risk their lives every day fighting home fires. We are proud that the two residential sprinkler standards contained in this handbook, NFPA 13D and NFPA 13R, play an important role in home fire safety.

I am also pleased to say that all major model codes now call for the use of sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings. Two states to date - California and Maryland - have adopted statewide requirements for home fire sprinklers in new one and two family homes. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is fully committed to increasing the number of jurisdictions that mandate home fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes.

Because of our commitment to sprinklers, NFPA launched the Fire Sprinkler Initiative^®: Bringing Safety Home (www.firesprinklerinitiative.org). This program, designed to assist advocates looking to implement sprinkler requirements in their communities, is a wonderful resource of information and outreach materials. The site also hosts a blog where you can learn more about efforts to increase the use of sprinklers all across the country and stay up to date on the latest research available for advocacy efforts.

We encourage you to take a look and put some of the materials to work in your own communities. Though it may be a long road to widespread local sprinkler requirements, we know such requirements will save lives. Because of that, we will continue to work to bring this added level of safety home.