Sprinkler systems, a matter of life and death

Most house fires occur between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., when many people are sleeping. What can save you, asleep or not, is a sprinkler system according to fire officials.

Tuesday in Cambridge, Md. the state fire marshal’s office held a demonstration to show the difference between a home with sprinkler systems and one without.

The devices save lives, but some worry that they are quick on the trigger going off prematurely for a small fire and causing excessive water damage for something a fire extinguisher could have taken care of.

Bruce Bouch, Director of Public Education and Media Affairs for the fire marshal’s office , said at the demonstration that’s a potentially deadly misconception.

“A sprinkler reacts at approximately 155 to 165 degrees if it’s to that point you’re no longer able to control that fire because it’s already grown that great that it’s building up in the ceiling area near that sprinkler head and you’re no longer even able to to fight that fire,” Bouch said.

In Maryland state law requires all new homes to have a sprinkler system in them.

That comes with an additional cost at about a $1.44 per square foot if you have city water Bouch said.

If you’re in a rural area that price is roughly doubled because you’d have to install a water pump and tank.

Bouch said the cost is worth it because a sprinkler system can be the difference between life and death.