As you say, most people have no idea how quickly a fire can propagate, particularly in an enclosed space. In addition to businesses, small and otherwise, there are jurisdictions that mandate sprinklers in all new residences, including single family, and even if renovations reach a certain percentage of the value of the building.
A report issued in August 2025 by the NFPA provides the following:
When sprinklers were present, the civilian fire death and injury rates per fire were 90 percent and 32 percent lower, respectively, compared to reported fires in properties with no automatic extinguishing systems (AES) such as sprinklers or range hood extinguishing systems. The rate of firefighter injuries per fire was also 35 percent lower.
I agree, but fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be) I knew how fast fire can spread, because when I was a young kid, a friend and I went camping in a state forest near our houses, and like a stupid idiot, I set a small patch of grass on fire to watch it burn. A wind came up, and the result was that it whipped it up so fast that a significant part of that forest was engulfed in flames before we could even get help.
The only reason I didn't get into trouble was because another friend of mine had come over to watch the firefighters battle the flames, and since his father was the fire marshal and saw his son there, he thought he had started the fire and suppressed that information.
Thank God, no one was hurt in that fire.
As a matter of fact, a few days before the fire that burned down the rooming house that I lived in, I saw a news report on TV about a fire that had burned down another house, and I had a strong premonition that this was going to happen where I lived. I know that many people here don't believe in premonitions, but I do. Don't even bother arguing with me about that, because I don't care what anyone thinks, and also because I've never had another one like this, and I've seen many, many news reports about fires burning down houses in my lifetime.
Anyway, the same friend I went camping with in my teens moved into the room next to mine, and when the fire started (a little after midnight or before. I'm not really sure), he didn't even bother putting on his clothes and ran around the house banging on people's doors, yelling fire, and he probably saved some lives because of that.
After he banged on my door, I grabbed my clothes and ran out of the house to put them on, and unfortunately, I'd left my keys, my watch, and all my money behind, but I was able to see through a window in the front door that the fire was roaring away on the second floor where I lived and this was only seconds after I'd gotten out.
As a result, I couldn't get back in to try and help the others who lived there too. I did go around to the back and that's where I found my friend naked and shivering in the cold because it was Christmas Eve in Connecticut (of course, if someone wanted to be technical, they could probably say it was Christmas).
I gave him my coat, and we went around the house to see if we could help anyone out. We actually helped another friend who lived in the room next to mine jump out of his window to the ground.
On the way, we could hear windows breaking as people tried to get out of the house that way.
The cause of the fire was determined to be electrical in nature, and I could believe that because I had heard rumours about strange occurrences that happened in that very room, like alarm clocks shorting out and melting.
It was a really old house, so the new fire laws didn't apply.
My good friend who had died was found on the floor in the act of putting his shoes on.
The other person who died was visiting her daughter, and I surmise that she got lost trying to find her way out of the house.
It was a horribly sad experience that I will never ever forget for as long as I live.
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