WHY AFFORDABLE RESIDENTIAL FIRE SPRINKLER SYSTEMS ARE SO NECESSARY

A report called THE KILLING KIND OF FIRE is attached. It provides information essential to the understanding of why fire sprinkler systems make a great deal of sense for homes from single family ones to large apartment houses. Beginning during the mid-1960s the manufacturers of the ionization type scalled smoke detector began to place ads within the Fire Journal of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) which were blatant performance lies. However, the manufacturers had obtained an agreement with Underwriters Laboratories whereby the UL Logo was allowed to be carried on the product with the fire testing at the UL test facility structured to hide the inability of the device to detect real (visible) smoke. Because there is absolute and irrefutable evidence to confirm this, I can say that the NFPA and UL cooperated with the smoke detector manufacturers to defraud the public by selling a very defective warning device to the public. The performance claims were false. The testing was a scam. The cooperation of the NFPA was nothing short of criminal. I claim that the number of wrongful deaths that have resulted from this fraud since 1970 is at least 70,000. The manufacturers claimed that the smoldering fire, not the flaming fire, was responsible for nearly all fire deaths. The truth is that it is the hot flaming fire that is the predominant killer. I explain why within the attached report. It is true that a smoldering fire can, over period of time ranging from perhaps a half hour to more than an hour produce an environment that is sufficient to create deaths within perhaps another hour of exposure. However, what is far more likely is that the smoldering fire converts to a flaming one and it is the flaming fire that causes most fire deaths. The creation of killing conditions by a smoldering fire is slow. To actually cause deaths requires even more time. During non-sleeping hours the early visible smoke and odors will warn in plenty of time to escape. Yet there are as many or more fire deaths during the daytime; which means that almost all daytime fires are flaming fires that did not significantly smolder prior to becoming deadly. If nearly all daytime fires are quickly flaming fires why would not flaming fires also be deadly at night? It is incredible that fire chiefs nationally still believe the lies of the ionization type so-called smoke detector manufacturers. These deliberate lies were designed to promote smoke detectors while proving that a heat detector or sprinkler was inferior protection to their phony smoke detectors. At night the odors and smoke from a smoldering fire will often will cause those sleeping to awaken before conditions become deadly. And if the smoke and odors do not wake the occupants (or a dog), a true (photoelectric type) smoke detector will provide an early reliable warning. Thus the smoldering fire problem can be readily and inexpensively eliminated. All that is needed to greatly reduce fire deaths are honest and truthful answers from the fire departments. But this is not what is happening. Unfortunately, the fraud created by the manufacturers and the

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NFPA/UL team has kept near 100 percent of the American homes devoid of real (photoelectric type) smoke detectors. That is why I say that the NFPA/UL assisted fraud has been so deadly. A smoldering fir will frequently change into a flaming fire. Usually, if deaths occur, they occur only after a smoldering fire changes to a flaming fire. The proof is that almost without exception, when bodies are carried out of a home there has been extensive heat damage to the home and furnishings. Very few bodies come out of a home where only smoke damage (no heat damage) has occurred. The fire may start smoldering but it is the flaming (hot) fire that is the big killer. As brought out within the attached report, a heat detector will provide a reliable warning of the hot killing type fire. But the manufacturers of the ionization type so-called smoke detector, with the cooperation of the NFPA/UL team deliberately created an anti-heat detector mentality among the fire chiefs and therefore no viable (affordable) solution to the hot fire was ever made available to American homes. A heat detector feature could be added to the true smoke detector for probably one dollar in manufacturing costs, but that solution is near completely ignored. Not only was the NFPA/UL team responsible for denying heat detectors for protection within homes, this team also rigged and falsified fire tests to make fire sprinkler systems so costly for homes that most homes are still being built without sprinklers. The ways by which the NFPA/UL team has prevented low cost sprinklers from being built into new homes are many but I will mention one way. I proved, and others proved, that a 5 or 6 gallon per minute (GPM) water supply to a home will be quite adequate for a fire sprinkler system to control nearly all early fires. But the NFPA (with help from many others) rigged tests to prove that a sprinkler system would not perform satisfactorily except the water line to the home will deliver 40 GPM at adequate pressure. This criterion (and others that the NFPA built into its design code) has prevented the marketing of effective and reliable fire control systems that would perform with the amount of water available to a home. It was all very clever and devious. It is the flaming fire that is most deadly so the NFPA helped promote the idea that smoldering fires are most deadly. And, to protect against the dangers of the smoldering fire the NFPA/UL team provided the American family with smoke detectors that were not capable of warning of a smoldering fire until, usually, it changed to a flaming and fast growing fire. Far too often the alarm was too late to escape because the exit paths were already black with smoke. Even after a smoldering fire converted to a flaming one, it often was still possible to survive if the small flaming fire was controlled. But by convincing the fire chiefs that flaming fires were not the most deadly type, and by convincing them that heat detectors and sprinklers would not operate until the smoke had already killed, the NFPA/UL team was able to prevent both heat detectors and (affordable) sprinkler systems from being installed in almost all American homes. For about 70 years of its existence the NFPA failed to create any code calling for fire detectors to be installed in homes. After I created (with committee help) the first fire detection code for homes, the NFPA set about deliberately to convert that code into a document that promoted the phony (ionization) smoke detector that is unable to detect visible smoke. That was not as certain

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a guarantee of an abundance of out-of-control home fires as no detectors at all; but it was close enough to keep the monies flowing. For nearly 80 years of its existence the NFPA failed to create a practical fire suppression system for the home. Thus for all these years 100 percent of our homes were built devoid of an automatic fire control system. I created the practical residential system virtually single handed and was installing this system in homes with fire department approvals during the 1970s. The NFPA and its allies decided that would not be allowed. So they set out to destroy my business. They did this three times. And with the help of one of my fellow FPE students at IIT, Rolf Jenson, they created a phony residential sprinkler code. This NFPA code that was intended to replace my design code required about 5 to 8 times as much water as a home would have. Because a percent of the fire chiefs nationally support sprinklers in homes, some homes are now being protected today. But the NFPA regulations keep the costs high and the percent of sprinkler protected homes small. The point of it all is that fire is creating about 500 billion dollars a year in income for those businesses that profit from fire. Because fire also supports the funding for fire departments I greatly admire those fire chiefs that have the courage to promote sprinklers. But there are far more fire officials that cooperate with the NFPA to keep the home fires burning. The bottom line is that, during its approximate 116 years of existence, (from 1896 to 2013) the NFPA has created codes that have resulted in more deaths than the number of Americans killed in combat during all our wars from 1896 until the present. I plan to provide much more information to reveal how those who profit from fire have conspired to guarantee a high burn rate in America because it is fire that guarantees the profits and the funding for the thousands of organizations that benefit from fire. I realize that the public and most members of the media are reluctant to believe that organizations that we trusted to reduce the fire problem are actually conspiring to maximize the take from fire. But I will provide sufficient evidence to prove the corruption is real and very deadly. It will be difficult to disbelieve the unwelcome truths I will be providing to those concerned with thousands of kids being burned alive; so that men of utmost greed can profit from fire. Meanwhile, there is an enormous amount of evidence of fire regulatory dishonesty posted on: wwwTheWorldFireSafetyFoundation.org. I also attach three of the many ads placed within the NFPA Fire Journal that blatantly deceived fire officials relative the performance capabilities of the ionization device. Richard M. Patton Rmpatton7@gmail.com

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