Fires and sprinklers
in San Francisco

San Francisco fire officials say there have been 434 residential fires and 204 commercial property fires in the city since the beginning of 2010 — 638 in all.

Of that total, sprinkler systems were confirmed to exist at 106 fire locations. That means five out of six buildings damaged by fire in the past five years, or 83 percent, had no sprinkler systems.

City statistics suggest a reduced level of property damage when sprinklers are present:

• The average property loss in the 434 residential fires in the past five years is about $292,000.
• For commercial fires, the average loss is about $382,000.
• The average loss in fires where sprinkler systems were present is about $57,000.

— Ted Goldberg, KQED News

 April 20, 2015