Paul Davis Restoration's fire demonstration highlights the importance of sprinklers

MILWAUKEE -- A startling demonstration shows just how important sprinklers are in our homes.

Friday, September 29th, two boxes were staggered with identical living room furniture. Crews intentionally started fires in the waste baskets by improperly disposing cigarettes.



The box on the left had a sprinkler system, and the box on the right did not.

Within one minute, the sprinklers turned on, ultimately saving the contents of the box on the left.

The other box was not so lucky. Take a look:



"In this scenario the smoke was dark thick and black and all the way down to the floor within a couple minutes and the smoke alarm actually failed within 45 seconds so that's all the time a person gets to get out of a house safely," said Mike Wos, Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin.



The live burn event was organized by Paul Davis Restoration and Remodeling, at their location near 4th and Becher.

Milwaukee Fire Engine 31 oversaw the demonstration as well.