Margate Fire Department

On July 28th, 2008, at 11:00 am, Margate Fire Rescue, in cooperation with Sprinklermatic Fire Sprinklers and Uniprop, conducted a residential fire sprinkler demonstration at the former Aztec Mobile Home Park. Two fires were set, one in an unprotected home, and one in a fully sprinklered home. The fire in the sprinklered home was rapidly extinguished by the sprinkler system, while the unprotected home burned down illustrating the rapid progress of residential fires. The purpose of the demonstration was to show the effectiveness of residential fire sprinklers and dispel many of the myths of how they operate perpetuated by Hollywood. Research has shown that the time it takes to escape a residential fire has dropped from 17 minutes in 1973 to 3 minutes in 2003. Therefore, smoke detectors alone are no longer enough. The United States Fire Administration released a position paper on March 28th, 2008 endorsing code changes that require residential fire sprinklers in all new construction. The demonstration provided an opportunity to see the components of a residential fire sprinkler system and the simplicity of its operation in an effort to educate the public on this growing trend endorsed by Margate Fire Rescue and the United States Fire Administration. Margate Fire Rescue invites you to watch the video to see how fast and effective a residential fire sprinkler system responds to a residential fire and how fast a home is destroyed by a fire that goes unchecked.

Video of demonstration
Video of National Fire Administration Endorsement

Related Links:
http://www.homefiresprinkler.org/index.html

http://www.sprinklernet.org/

http://www.nfsa.org/

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/citizens/all_citizens/home_fire_prev/sprinklers/

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