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Many builders and commercial property owners hesitate to install fire sprinklers because of
the cost. But they can actually save you money. Here's how:
Fire damage
This is the most obvious one, but with good cause: fire can cost you millions of pounds of
damage. The statistics show that commercial fire sprinklers can cut your damage costs by
about 90% on average. One fire, and your sprinklers will pay for themselves.
Property damage
Many people believe commercial fire sprinklers cause water damage to property. Actually,
fire-related property damage is often ten times worse without them.
Insurance
If you install commercial fire sprinklers in your buildings, your insurance may offer a
discount-often from 10% to 65%, depending on the type of building.
Construction
As a developer, residential fire sprinklers don't just save you money-they sometimes
generate profit. With residential fire sprinklers installed, you may not need to provide as
much access to fire trucks-meaning more units, bigger lots, fewer hydrants, and units set
back from the streets. This can mean more, higher-value units. In addition, buyers often see
the value of added fire protection-and may be willing to pay more for it.
Water
You may need to provide less water to your units with residential fire sprinklers installed,
because they use so much less water than firefighters need to extinguish a fire. This can
reduce the need to expand a water supply that's already there-saving you serious money.
Conclusions
Smoke alarms clearly reduce deaths, injuries and property
losses. These figures could be further reduced if the
remaining 18 percent of Canadian houses without alanns
had them.
Householders, salespeople and others still need to be
educated about the benefits of smoke alarms and their
contribution to fire safety. Governments should consider
subsidized installation programs for families who cannot
afford to install an alarm.
Fatalities
Component fire smoke detector
characteristics
85 dB alarm