1807: John Carey created the first perforated sprinkler, activated by heat burning through a cord.

1812: One of Britain’s earliest sprinkler systems was installed at Theatre Royal Drury Lane—an updated version still operates today.

1874: Henry Palmer Lee produced the first commercially successful automatic sprinkler, later installed in Bolton’s cotton mills.

Today:

Over 40 million sprinkler heads are installed worldwide each year.

99% of fires in fully protected buildings are controlled by sprinklers alone.

60% are controlled by 4 heads or fewer.

Accidental discharge is extremely rare: 1 in 500,000 (general) and 1 in 14,000,000 (manufacturing defects).

Sprinklers remain one of the most reliable fire protection systems ever developed.

A fire sprinkler system is a network of pipes, valves, and sprinkler heads designed to automatically release water in the event of a fire to control or extinguish it.

Sprinklers have heat-sensitive elements (like a glass bulb or fusible link) that breaks when exposed to high temperatures, releasing water directly onto the fire. Fire sprinklers aren’t activated at once. Only the sprinkler(s) head closest to the fire will activate. This minimizes water damage while controlling the fire.

·Wet Pipe: Pipes always filled with water.

·Dry Pipe: Pipes filled with air; water is released when the system is activated.

·Deluge: All sprinklers open simultaneously when triggered.

·Pre-Action: Requires a separate detection system before water is released.

Water will discharge from that sprinkler only. Accidental activations should be reported immediately and the system repaired.

Yes, but the damage is usually far less than uncontrolled fire damage. Only sprinklers near the fire activate.

Most modern systems are linked to fire alarms, so activation triggers an alert to occupants and monitoring centres.

Typically, sprinklers activate within 30–60 seconds of reaching the trigger temperature.