Reports of water damage from fires in buildings with sprinklers are often exaggerated. Only the sprinklers over a fire open. All the others stay shut. A sprinkler opening by accident is almost unheard of. Firemen often use 10,000 times more water from hoses to do the same job as a sprinkler. A valuable item sprayed with water from a sprinkler as it puts out a fire can usually be recovered or restored. One that is burnt to a cinder and flushed down the drain by a fire hose is another matter! If there is a fire the water from one or two sprinklers is a small price to pay for saving a complete building, its contents or even a life.