HADLEY, Mass. - The Hadley Fire Department hosted a fire sprinkler demonstration Tuesday to highlight the benefits of having them in homes.

They said many properties are more susceptible to severe fire damage today because of the flammability of items inside.

"Fire growth is exponentially faster than what it used to be," said Fire Chief Michael Spanknebel. "So we would have 12-15 minutes before we would start seeing really heavy fire conditions. In today, you saw it was 2-3 minutes where we were at flashover at the room because of all those, the foams and the plastics and everything that are in modern construction and modern homes for furniture."

In Massachusetts, typically a building’s size dictates if its required to have a sprinkler system. On Tuesday, the fire department demonstrated what a home with a sprinkler would look like during a fire vs. one without.

Spanknebel said there are many myths about sprinklers which prevent people from using them, so he hopes the visual aid can offer a different perspective.

"I just think because they see the commercial side of it where you have galvanized piping and extensive installs for a Walmart or Home Depot, where you see huge heads and piping all over the place," he said. "This is basically a rated PVC piping, looks like a plumbing that you put in your walls. It's all done basically like plumbing."

Spanknebel said another myth they hope to address is one around the amount of water that goes off during a home fire.

"If one sprinkler head goes off, all of them don't off go off like you see in the movies," he said. "That single head that's tripped by the heat is the only unit that will go off and it will control that fire, low amounts of water, so you can how much it saved the furniture, saved the room."

Spanknebel said a sprinkler system can also buy people more time in the event of an emergency.

"So that you have the time to get your family out of the house," Spanknebel said. "And it's also saving the firefighters that are coming to your home to try and extinguish the fire. So if that sprinkler head can control that, that's gonna allow us the time to get there if needed, if the head doesn't take care of itself, it's gonna allow the time to extinguish it completely."

Spanknebel encouraged everyone who may be considering building a new home to have a sprinkler system installed. He said it not only protects those living in the home but the firefighters as well.