Update: HFD demonstrated a Live Side-by-Side Burn during Hawthorne Day

The Hawthorne Fire Department wishes to thank the following for providing this demonstration.
New Jersey Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board (providing the demonstration grant)
The Sprinkler Coalition
East Coast Fire Systems
Insurance Restoration Specialists
Van Dyk Park Place
Chief Joe Speranza
Assistant Chief Joe Longo
Assistant Chief Peter Van Der Velde
Lt. Kyle Johnson
FF Keith Lettich

Video Credit:  Brian Warner

During Hawthorne Day on September 23, 2017, the Hawthorne Fire Department will be demonstrating a live side-by-side burn of two “rooms”—both are furnished as a typical living room, bedroom or dorm room. The difference is that one of the rooms has a smoke alarm, while the other has a smoke alarm and a single sprinkler head. The demonstration will reveal the speed at which the fire sprinkler suppresses the fire in one room—usually under a minute—while the other room continues to burn and is already at flashover (the point at which everything in the room ignites) before a fire department typically arrives on scene.

Video shows two rooms set on fire; one with a sprinkler system, the other without. While the sprinklers extinguished the flames in one room within 80 seconds, the room without sprinklers was reduced to ash in a few quick minutes. Fire sprinklers truly save lives and protect property.