Fires kill more people in the United States every year than all natural disasters combined. 80% of all fire deaths occur in the home. The single most effective way to prevent fire-related deaths is the installation of residential fire sprinklers. Combined with smoke alarms, they cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 82% compared to having neither.

Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire. Each sprinkler is individually activated by heat. Despite "sight gags" on TV sit-coms, smoke does not trigger sprinkler operation. The rest of the sprinklers in a house will not activate unless there is also a fire in that location. 90% of all home fires are contained with a single sprinkler.

Fire hoses, on average, use more than 8 1/2 times the water that sprinklers do to contain a fire. According to the Scottsdale Report, a 15-year study of fire sprinkler effectiveness, a fire sprinkler uses, on average, 341 gallons of water to control a fire. Firefighters, on average, use 2,935. Reduced water damage is a major source of savings for homeowners.

The likelihood that a sprinkler will accidentally discharge because of a manufacturing defect is extremely rare. Sprinkler mishaps are generally less likely and less severe than accidents involving home plumbing systems.