How effective are fire sprinklers?
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has no record of a fire killing more than two people in a completely sprinklered public assembly, educational, institutional or residential building where the system was working properly. In cases which fatalities occur in a building equipped with fire sprinklers, the deceased are almost always in intimate contact with the fire and were burned severely before the sprinkler activated (i.e., smoking in bed, explosions, etc.), Sprinklers typically reduce chances of dying in a fire and the average property loss by one-half to two-thirds in any kind of property where they are used.
