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People who harbor any doubts about the safety benefits of fire sprinkler systems might have a hard time retaining their skepticism after next Tuesday.

That’s when the Onalaska Fire Department plans to put on a dramatic live-fire demonstration showing how quickly a small fire can spread and how effectively a sprinkler system can prevent that spread.

The public is invited to witness the demonstration, which will start at 6:30 p.m. in the fire department parking lot.

A fire will be set in two 8-foot-by-8-foot rooms, both filled with typical household furnishings, one with a sprinkler system and one without. One wall is made out of Plexiglass, so the progress of the fires can be viewed.

Spectators will be invited to watch at close range as a typical trash can fire is started in each room. In less than two minutes, the room without sprinklers will be fully engulfed in flames, flashover will occur and the fire department will extinguish the fire with their hoses.

In approximately 40 seconds, the heat from the fire in the sprinklered room will activate the fire sprinkler. The sprinkler will either control or extinguish the fire. Attendees will be invited to compare the two rooms after both fires are extinguished.

Fire Chief Donald Dominick said the purpose of the demonstration is to show the value of automatic fire sprinklers, which have been saving lives and protecting property for more than 100 years.

Dominick said fire sprinklers will become especially important as new developments in the city adopt smaller setbacks from adjacent buildings.

Fire sprinklers are widely recognized as the single most effective method for stopping the spread of fires in their early stages — before they can cause severe injury, death and major damage to property. Fire sprinklers also protect firefighters from injury and death.