When home fire sprinklers are present, residents are 80 percent more likely to survive a fire, and yet they are installed in only a fraction of new homes. For the past 25 years, a group called the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition has worked to increase sprinkler use in North America, despite fierce opposition from various home builders. On today's podcast, we talk to the president of HFSC about its successes, the ongoing challenges, and new strategies for getting fire sprinklers installed in more new homes (1:38). In the second segment, we talk to the director of the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Policy Institute about a free new online tool that aims to help communities assess their safety ecosystem, and correct safety gaps before they lead to bigger problems (30:37). Links:

homefiresprinkler.org

nfpa.org/sprinklers

nfpa.org/ecosystemtool