As many households enter the new school year remotely and several family members continue to work from or remain at home, this year's Fire Prevention Week theme, “Serve up Fire Safety in the Kitchen”, is more relevant than ever. Spending more time at home means more time in the kitchen, so up through Fire Prevention Week this October 4-10, we'll be highlighting resources that can help you make the most of this year's special circumstances while promoting fire safety.   Cooking together is a great way to bond with the family but adding kids to the mix requires reviewing basic safety precautions. While cooking fires remain the leading cause of home fires and injuries, non-fire cooking injuries are even more common than those caused by the fires. NFPA's most recent cooking fires report shows that nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of children ages 5-9 and 14 percent of children age 10-14 suffered microwave oven scalds.   Our Kids in the Kitchen tip sheet offers simple but important ways to help kids of all ages learn how to participate in cooking activities without putting themselves or others at risk.    Educators, parents, and other community members have ample opportunities to be innovative in how they share meaningful fire safety messages around the kitchen this year. For more ways that NFPA can help, check out the Fire Prevention Week homepage.

Recent, deadly fires like the ones in Philadelphia and Lansing show how quickly an uneventful day with the family can turn to tragedy. On a relaxed Saturday morning in Philadelphia, firefighters entered a row-house engulfed in flames and smoke to find a woman and three children dead inside. Just a week prior, first responders arrived at a small, burning Lansing residence shortly before midnight, extinguishing the fire and finding Melissa Weston and her two young grandchildren dead inside. These sad events, one early in the morning and one late at night, illuminate the need for taking action to be safer from fire. Both smoke alarms and home fire sprinklers provide the early warning of a potentially fast-moving fire and suppression while the fire department is enroute. We know few existing homes were built with sprinklers, but we can change outcomes by building new homes with a higher level of fire safety with home fire sprinklers. Regardless of the time of day, we know that in reported home structure fires with working smoke alarms, the risk of dying drops 54 percent compared to in homes with no alarms or none that worked, and that the presence of home fire sprinklers can increase the chances of surviving a home fire by 87 percent. People age 65 and older are at the highest risk of dying in a home fire, while children, pets, and those with disabilities are also at increased risk. While newer building techniques provided great benefits over the years, unprotected lightweight construction combined with synthetic materials and open floor plans can result in fires that burn faster and at higher temperatures. The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition reports that flashover—when everything ignites—can happen in as little three minutes, making every second in a fire count. By being alerted quickly with smoke alarms and controlling the fire as soon as it is detected with home fire sprinklers are an integral part of a home fire protection strategy, along with a practiced escape plan, helping to keep unfortunate tales like the above from happening at all.

Everyday, we see countless, heartbreaking reminders of how fast a fire can destroy one's home and impact one's life. Advances in fire protection technology like smoke alarms have become widely used, but home fire sprinklers have yet to proliferate in the same way. Unfortunately, rumors and misinformation run rampant around home fire sprinklers, so in our Mythblaster Monday series we debunk a different myth each week and highlight resources that can be used to refute inaccurate information and better inform your communities about their many advantages. Today's myth is particularly misleading and adds to the misguided fear that home fire sprinklers damage property. Myth: Smoke alarms cause fire sprinklers to activate. Fact: Home fire sprinklers are only activated by the high temperature of a fire surrounding the sprinkler. The logical jump for this myth is clear. When fire sprinklers are often shown activating soon after a smoke alarm sounds, people understandably link the two together. But it is simply not true. A liquid-filled bulb sits at the center of each sprinkler, and only when the temperature reaches between 135°-165°F (57°-74°C) will that bulb burst.  Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, and a survey found that 90 percent of the time, one sprinkler was enough to control the fire. Fire sprinklers and smoke alarms work very well together, and people benefit greatly from having both. Smoke alarms provide early detection while home fire sprinklers act as early suppression, both increasing valuable time needed to escape a home fire. The best time to install home fire sprinklers is during construction, but retrofitting is also an option. Either way, make sure to only choose contractors qualified as specialists in sprinkler installation. This brochure quickly breaks down the advantages of this life-saving technology; and legislators, community members, and AHJs can find more support for home fire sprinkler installation here. For even more resources, visit the Fire Sprinkler Initiative and Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition.

We talk often about the benefits of working smoke alarms, home escape plans, and home fire sprinklers.  But nothing helps drive the point home more than a real-life example that is captured in real time. This video by the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition shows how swiftly a home fire can spread, underscoring the need to take fire safety seriously and account for the ability or inability of those in the home to quickly escape. The video gives a rare view into a home on fire before the fire department arrives. In under two minutes, flames and smoke begin to take over the room, while an elderly man watches television, unaware of the fire just a few feet away. Before a smoke alarm could alert everyone in the home of the fire early, a woman comes in and notices the flames. She is able to get them both out. Sadly, people aged 65 and older are at the highest risk of dying in a home fire, so increasing the amount of time available for escape is paramount. This is another strong case for the installation of home fire sprinklers. Home fire sprinklers begin controlling a fire before firefighters arrive, giving occupants time to escape. Thankfully, everyone escaped without injury, but so often, similar situations do not end this way. A complete fire safety strategy should include working smoke alarms, home fire sprinklers, and practicing an escape plan. For more resources on home fire sprinklers and their benefits, check out the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition and the Fire Sprinkler Initiative.

This Tuesday we continue our Mythblaster Monday series, where we discuss and debunk the myths around home fire sprinklers, offering resources to highlight their advantages and tackle the misinformation. Last Monday we found that home fire sprinklers are green, and they lower water usage, pollution, and gas emissions. Today we broach the other half of the water-use concern; a myth that acknowledges how much is at stake in a home fire. Myth: Water damage from sprinklers is worse than fire damage Fact: Sprinkler flows are 10-26 gallons of water per minute. Sprinkler damage is a fraction of typical losses from an unsprinklered home fire.  We've all seen a movie where the fire sprinklers go off, drenching everyone and everything in sight for comedic effect. Fortunately, when it comes to how sprinklers suppress fires in the home, this image couldn't be further from the truth. Home fire sprinklers begin battling a fire as soon as the heat around the sensor reaches a high enough temperature, in many cases extinguishing the flames before first responders arrive. As a result, a home fire sprinkler uses about 1/10th the amount of water as a fire hose, and at lower pressure. Plus, in 90 percent of home fires, the fire is controlled by only one sprinkler, lowering damages. In addition to how much water is necessary to extinguish a fire that has had time to grow and spread, we also consider what the fire itself destroys—burning away beloved keepsakes, lives, furniture, and other elements that make a house into a home. This year's NFPA Fire Prevention Week is all about cooking, and a recent study found that cooking activities caused $1.2 billion in property damage in home fires, as well as being the leading cause of fires in one- and two-family homes. In some cases, like the fire at Food Network star Rachel Ray's home earlier this month, home fire sprinklers can be especially helpful for firefighting efforts in remote locations with limited access to water, helping to preserve the memories in our homes. As we can clearly see, home fire sprinklers are one of the best ways to protect life and property from the devastation of home fires. This brochure offers a quick breakdown of the benefits for homeowners, and homebuilders can find information tailored to their concerns here. For more resources on home fire sprinklers and how to dispel the myths surrounding them, check out the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition and Fire Sprinkler Initiative.

Over the years, great strides have been made in the realms of fire and life safety, thanks to the contributions of countless individuals. Today, NFPA and the wider community doing that important work mourns the loss of Jaime Moncada Pérez. After health complications from a cerebral ischemia, “Don Jaime” died on August 31st, 2020, in Bogotá, Colombia at nearly 89 years old. Don Jaime was considered by many a pioneer and champion of fire protection engineering in Latin America, devoting himself to the cause through a career including international recognition and a relationship with NFPA that spanned over 40 years. He began his journey in Colombia, where he graduated from the University of Antioquia in Medellín with a degree in Chemical Engineering, before completing his master's in Industrial Hygiene at Harvard University in 1957 and master's in Economics from the University of the Andes in Bogotá, in 1970.  A true visionary, he first called on NFPA to make their work inclusive of Spanish-speaking countries in 1976, going on to co-edit NFPA's Fire Protection Handbook in Spanish and found the Ibero-American Fire Protection Organization (OPCI) in 1981. He initiated the first translation of NFPA standards into Spanish, organized the first fire protection seminars and congresses throughout Latin America, and became the first instructor of NFPA seminars in Spanish. Don Jaime was the first Latin American member of the Board of Directors and served on the board from 2001-2007. Don Jaime's influence can be seen in the decrease in major disasters like the Avianca Tower and Santa María Tower. We offer the deepest condolences and sincerest thanks to his family, for the legacy that he has left to Latin America and the world through the thousands of professionals he taught, and the advancement of fire protection knowledge through his inspiring work.