Ignorance is bliss

I met a guy yesterday whose house burned down over six years ago.

He had no working smoke detectors. No sprinkler system. He had a cat. A cat that woke him up in the middle of the night when his house started to fill with smoke. His dishwasher, that unknowingly to him had been recalled because it had a risk of catching fire, had caught fire. 

Six years later, he is living in a trailer, in front of his home. His burned out house has been torn down, and a new home erected in its place. 

Wait. Did you say he is living in a trailer in front of his home? Yes. Yes I did. 

Why you ask?

Because for the last six years, he has been in a court fight with his insurance company, and his bank, and probably some other parties that are usually involved in cases like this. He has lawyer bills in excess of $150,000. He has a brand new home, waiting to be finished so that he can move in. He has a temporary trailer that he has been living in, seemingly permanently.  

Just an all around disaster.

So, being in the fire protection industry, what's the first thing I ask him about his new home? Of course! 

"Are you installing fire sprinklers in your new home?"

"No. They are too expensive!"

I didn't say anything. I wasn't surprised. It's not the first time that I have heard someone who has been burned out of their house give that response to that very same question. 

Ignorance is bliss. 

I made sure to mention, as the evening went on, the benefits of fire sprinklers, and how they work, and how they prevent disasters, and how they save lives, and how they.....have many many benefits. 

I didn't direct my attention to him though. It was simply general discussion with everyone at the gathering. 

I did say something along the line of "$2.25 per square foot to install a fire sprinkler system when you are having a house built is the best money you could spend."

I don't blame people for being ignorant when it comes to fire sprinklers. I have been in the industry for over 20 years, so yes, I know about them. 

When I talk about sprinklers to people, they are usually amazed when I start throwing out statistics....like how fire sprinklers are "green" because the minimal water flowing form a few sprinklers that extinguish or control a fire PALES IN COMPARISON to the water that a fire department will flow.....plus the man hours that it takes to put a fire out using multiple fire departments, and the diesel fuel that is burned while the 20+ fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, etc are running for hours upon hours. 

Or the environmental effect of the water runoff from the firefighting operation....etc. etc. etc. 

"No. They are too expensive."