Richmond and Henrico fire departments, along with members of VCU Fire Safety, teamed up Thursday to demonstrate the effectiveness of indoor sprinklers if a fire were to break out in your home.
Firefighters ignited two living room setups outside the Fire Training Academy in Henrico. Only one had a sprinkler.
The difference was stark. After about five minutes, the living room without a sprinkler was fully engulfed. In the same amount of time, the room with a sprinkler was reduced to small flames.
On average, it takes firefighters about four minutes to respond to a home. If these demonstration fires happened in real houses, the house without the sprinkler could easily have gone up in flames.