TERRE HAUTE — As a building’s charred remains smoke in silence, it’s difficult to remember that it could have been much worse.

“The point we’re trying to get across is that yes, there’s going to be damage. But if there had not been a sprinkler system in place, the damage would have been so much more,” said Robert Kleinheinz, the Illinois regional manager of the National Fire Sprinkler Association.

Kleinheinz was speaking in reference to Saturday afternoon’s fire at the Greene County Rehabilitation Center, where 22 residents escaped after a combined sprinkler and alarm system alerted them of the blaze.

Gus Matthias, owner of the building, said the fire alarm sounded and security personnel had everyone out before the fire department arrived.

“Certainly the firewalls did their job. The sprinkler did its job and the alarm system did its job,” he said. “Everything the building could do to keep itself from burning to the ground was done.”

Only 22 of the building’s 40 residents were inside at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported.

According to statistics provided by the National Fire Protection Association, 1,557,500 fires were reported in America during 2007. The result was 3,430 civilian deaths, 17,675 civilian injuries and $14.6 billion in property damage.

But it’s tough to know what those numbers would have been without prevention mechanisms.

“The quicker the response time, the less damage,” said Darrick Scott, assistant chief of the Terre Haute Fire Department.

An unchecked fire doubles in size every 30 seconds, Scott said, noting time is of the essence.

“Sprinkler systems help check the fire, keep it at bay,” he said, explaining most are tied to an alarm system which immediately notifies authorities through smoke or heat sensors.

Bill Fairbanks, fire safety specialist for Indiana State University, said 95 percent of the time a sprinkler system can knock a fire out in its initial stages. “Those are pretty well accepted statistics,” he said.

ISU has about 30 buildings outfitted with water-based sprinkler systems, and new ones are going into some of them such as Buford Hall.

“The new president is taking a proactive stand,” he said of ISU President Dan Bradley. “It’s a very gratifying position,” he said, but “it’s not an inexpensive thing to do.”

Kleinheinz, whose organization works with contractors across the country, said costs vary widely on location and project size.

“It’s all building dependent,” he said. Factors ranging from the number of occupants to structural layout influence the project cost.

But regarding the fire in Bloomfield, he said the costs have to be weighed against the alternative. “That fire was probably held in check or partially extinguished by those sprinklers and saved those people,” he said.

“A lot of people think these are just for big buildings,” Scott said of alarm and sprinkler systems. “In the west coast it’s getting real popular in residential.”

Scott said there are no local laws requiring personal residences to maintain smoke alarms or other systems, but in rental properties, landlords must provide a smoke alarm and the tenant is required to maintain the battery. “A good smoke detector is pretty cheap at most of your home improvement centers,” he said.

From the least expensive smoke alarm to a sophisticated heat-activatated sprinkler system, experts agreed that anything people can do to slow a fire and speed up emergency response will help.

Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.