Fire Sprinklers Supplement: 20 Years of Fire Protection

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Twenty years ago this spring, the NFSA teamed up with the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), sowing the seeds of the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC), which grew into the nation’s only nonprofit group solely focused on home fire sprinkler education. As a founding member and officer of the HFSC Board of Directors, NFSA is proud to celebrate the milestone and look back over the coalition’s achievements.

“What we initiated as a small startup has evolved into a comprehensive educational group working very effectively in the U.S. and Canada,” says NFSA President Shane Ray. “HFSC has become known for its ability to collaborate with groups, agencies and individuals in a powerful effort to reduce home fire deaths and injuries. We are honored that NFSA helped give HFSC its start, and we are equally honored to continue supporting HFSC’s important mission.”

HFSC has been successful in part because its board of directors has retained the founders’ focus on education. “HFSC is uniquely centered on raising awareness, leaving code adoption efforts to others,” Ray continues, noting NFSA is among those working to strengthen home fire sprinkler codes. “This steadfast educational core gives HFSC a great deal of credibility, especially with the fire service.”

Having that fire service trust has helped HFSC grow and improve its efficiency over the years. “We make collaboration with fire departments a hallmark of our mission work and always have,” explains Peg Paul, HFSC’s longtime communications manager. “Most departments don’t have the budgets to carry out effective home fire sprinkler education on their own. So HFSC created the BUILT FOR LIFE Fire Department Program (BFLFD) to help boost fire service grassroots sprinkler education.”

BFLFD is free to fire departments and has attracted thousands of them over the years. All over the United States and Canada, departments use HFSC’s materials and activities to learn about sprinklers and to help their communities stay safer. “The beauty of BUILT FOR LIFE is that it contains ready-made content that answers the questions of numerous audiences and battles back against myths,” Ray says. “NFSA encourages fire departments to sign up for this great program and use its quality materials.”

HFSC strives to respond to the evolving ways that people learn. “We’ve always tried to stay ahead of the technology curve at HFSC,” Paul says. “Our tight budget is best used when we inexpensively create and disseminate useful content through the Internet. That helps us reach more people with the information they want and need. With a greater emphasis on digital communications today we are doing much more with less.”

HFSC offers a wide range of educational tools and materials on its website and on YouTube. HFSC recently invested in an Internet upgrade to ensure that this comprehensive content can be navigated more easily and readily downloaded by computer, smartphone or tablet. HFSC makes hard copies of some materials available to fire departments at no charge.

“Having a seat at HFSC’s table has been a true privilege for me personally and for NFSA collectively,” Ray concludes. “HFSC has done a lot over 20 years, but we can do even more. As we celebrate 20 years of success, we encourage the fire service and others to consider making a donation to HFSC to help the Coalition go another 20 years and then some.”

Visit HFSC at HomeFireSprinkler.org. Make a tax-deductible donation to HFSC at homefiresprinkler.org/donate-now.

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