Barrie firefighters demonstrate effectiveness of sprinkler systems

In two separate bedrooms, two wooden beds with white coverlets and throw pillows sat beside velour-covered armchairs, dressers and a nightstand with a lamp.

Walls decorated with fake, tacky art, fluffy slippers and aluminum walkers in the identical rooms were ready, it seemed, for the occupants to return to bed.

Instead, two fully decked out firefighters deliberately set the rooms on fire to demonstrate the efficacy of sprinklers.

If you were the occupant in the left room with the sprinkler system, you got a little wet and smoky.

But, if you were on the right side of the partition, within two minutes way before firefighters could arrive you were dead.

Our goal is to have sprinklers for all vulnerable occupancies by 2019, said Samantha Hoffmann, public fire & safety officer with Barrie Fire & Emergency Service.

Midway through the exercise, firefighter Carrie Clarke-Weatherup said the non-sprinkled room had reached a temperature of approximately 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

At the three-minute mark, she estimated the room was approximately 1,000 degrees.

After the firefighters extinguished the blaze, the blackend wood furniture looked marblized, with both the bed and armchair were burned down to their charred metal springs.

The sprinklered room had a semi-burned but still recognizable armchair, and the furniture would need to be dried and cleaned only.

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Barrie firefighters demonstrate effectiveness of sprinkler systems