Fort Myers residents advocate for fire sprinklers to save lives

FORT MYERS, Fla. —

Brian Geraci, a Fort Myers resident with fire sprinklers in his home, believes in the lifesaving potential of these systems, saying, "We know that these systems will save lives. People don't have to die in fires anymore."

Geraci, who spent 50 years in the fire service in Maryland, recalls a tragic incident involving a fire that started from an electrical outlet under a Christmas tree, leading to heartbreak for a family with grandchildren.

"To protect my family, it's the most important thing. I have grandchildren now, so I want to make sure they're safe," Geraci said, emphasizing his motivation to install a sprinkler system.

Geraci noted that residential sprinklers have saved up to 100 lives a year. He explained that the sprinkler heads in his home are concealed, making them hardly noticeable until pointed out.

"People hardly notice it's even here until I tell them that. They don't know there's a system in the house unless I tell them, or they come to the garage and see the tank out back," Geraci said.

Jennifer Campbell, fire marshal on Fort Myers Beach, recalled a fire that could have caused significantly less damage had there been fire sprinklers.

"Our last one, where it was a complete loss, was the one on Pearl Street," Campbell said, adding that fire sprinklers would have kept the fire isolated to the second level.

Rick Reynolds, fire marshal for the city of Fort Myers, highlighted the benefits of sprinkler systems in minimizing fire damage.

"A sprinkler system would contain it to that area and would more than likely suppress the fire to where all we had to do was come in and mop it up," Reynolds said. He expressed hope for more systems on the Gulf Coast. "It would be greatly more beneficial. We've, we run a lot of structure fires. And if they had the sprinkler system, the damage would be minimized to just about nothing," Reynolds said.

The cost of installation is a significant barrier, with Geraci stating that his system cost $8,000. Campbell mentioned that installing sprinklers during construction could save some money. "I would say you'd probably save a couple grand," Campbell said.

While Maryland and California require sprinkler systems in new homes, Gulf Coast legislators have not supported similar measures.

"Unfortunately, when they tried to put that in, it was kicked out at the legislation level," Campbell said.

Reynolds expressed a desire for Florida to require fire sprinkler systems in new single-family homes, despite opposition from the construction and development industries.

"I would like to see Florida do something as far as single-family homes to require new homes to have fire sprinkler systems. There's been a big push against it from the construction industry and developing industry. And it's about money. It was in for code, but it got struck out by the legislature," Reynolds said.

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