These results are inconsistent with statistics that show most fire deaths and injuries occur in the home and that home fires outnumber all other building fires by more than three to one.

Another factor is that, as you know, public buildings are subject to tough fire-safety regulations and inspections, whereas most homes are not.

“Most public buildings and commercial office buildings are much better protected than homes,” says SFPE’s Engineering Program Manager, Chris Jelenewicz. “This is because fire protection engineers implement fire-safety strategies and technologies into the design and construction of commercial buildings.”

Using the latest technologies, fire protection engineers are responsible for designing ways to protect people from fire. They design systems that control fires, alert people to danger and provide means for escape. Facilities that don’t feature these technologies are disasters just waiting to happen.

A 2005 survey conducted by SFPE had similar results, where 87 percent of respondents believed they were safer from fires at home than in a public building.

“It’s disheartening to see that public perception is not changing,” says Jelenewicz. To change this, SFPE is working to increase the awareness of the importance of home fire prevention. Recently, the society partnered with Discovery Education to create and release new high school chemistry lessons that teach students about the science of fire— a project that was funded by the Department of Homeland Security. As a result of this project, every high school student in the country will have the opportunity to better understand the dangers of home fires.

Along with the false sense of security at home, the survey also found that 44 percent of Americans think about the dangers of fire only once or twice a year- or less.

But there was a recent reminder of the destruction that occurs when fire strikes an unprotected building. February 20 marked the fifth anniversary of the Station Nightclub fire in West Warwick, RI, one of the deadliest nightclub fires in the history of the U.S., and a stark reminder of the need to equip buildings with fire suppression equipment.

“Inadequate fire protection features were a major contributing factor to the significant number of deaths and injuries,” said Jelenewicz. “Additionally, exiting from the nightclub was hampered by overcrowding at the building’s main entrance.”

The Station Nightclub was a one-story, wood frame building that regularly hosted live, band performances. The fire started on-stage while a rock band was playing when pyrotechnics used during the performance ignited polyurethane foam that lined parts of the nightclub’s walls and ceilings.

After ignition, the fire spread quickly along the ceiling and throughout the building.

Within seconds, deadly thick black smoke filled the nightclub, and flames were observed breaking trough the roof in less than five minutes after the fire started.

The building was not equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology says that this tragedy would have been adverted had a fire sprinkler system been installed in the building at the time of the fire.

This combination of a fast moving fire that was caused by the polyurethane insulation coupled with the inability of the exits to handle the occupants were the major contributors to the 100 fire deaths. Many of the dead had either been burned to death or died of smoke inhalation, though some were trampled in the rush to escape.

As a result of this fire, many building requirements were enhanced to make nightclubs safer from fire. Some of these requirements included provisions for automatic fire sprinklers in new and existing nightclubs and a requirement to have crowd managers present to assist with emergency building evacuations.

It also serves as a reminder of the threat posed by fire and the importance of installing fire suppression and protection equipment in all buildings, including homes.

Thanks and good luck.