Modern Hospital Fire Safety: Risks, Challenges & Solutions

Today’s healthcare facilities are evolving into smarter, more efficient environments that are deeply attuned to patient experience. As a result, technology is now tightly woven throughout care models, clinical procedures and operational workflows. In 2025 alone, over 70% of healthcare leaders reported a focus on implementing tools and platforms designed to support digital transformation.¹

Through this shift, traditional patient management systems are being replaced by AI-powered electronic health records, advanced imaging and robotics are streamlining complex procedures, and biometric telemetry is enhancing personalized care. As modern healthcare facilities adopt these innovations, it is essential to also recognize their unique fire protection considerations.

Data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) shows an annual average of nearly 3,200 fires within hospitals, medical clinics and doctors’ offices in the U.S. between 2019 and 2023.² These events result in an average of $14 million in annual direct property damage, according to FM Industry.³

Modern hospitals rely on high densities of continuously operating electrical and digital equipment which can contribute to increased electrical loads, greater localized heat generation and a higher overall fire risk. Conventional fire protection strategies are often based on broad, code-driven guidelines. While these standards are critical to meet safety compliance, they only provide the minimum requirements and are not designed to address the unique complexities of each individual facility.

As modern healthcare facilities continue to advance, these critical spaces need comprehensive fire safety solutions that are engineered around each hospital area, from operating rooms and imaging suites to server rooms and energy storage areas.

The Importance of Comprehensive Hospital Fire Protection
Healthcare environments and facility teams carry a unique responsibility to protect vulnerable populations and ensure continuity of care. To support this, fire safety systems must be designed to meet regulatory compliance and operational goals in tandem.

Traditional fire safety strategies are often based on maximum risk to promote life safety during worst-case scenarios. However, healthcare facilities are rarely uniform environments, so traditional approaches can have limitations.

For example, water-based sprinkler systems and portable extinguishers are often the most appropriate solutions for general building fire protection. Within a typical method, sprinkler systems may use the same piping infrastructure throughout an entire building. Although this would adhere to NFPA 13 guidelines for water pressure and flow, it doesn’t consider the distinct risks that may or may not be present within each area. This can lead to increased material costs and greater water usage where it may not be needed.

Conversely, a comprehensive fire safety strategy allows solutions to be closely aligned with the unique spaces and hazards being protected. This comprehensive review not only provides the minimum building safety requirements but can increase the level of protection for human life and high-valued tools and equipment.

In addition to improved safety, this can also provide significant economic benefits. By seeking the most efficient, properly-sized fire protection solutions for each area, facility teams can reduce the cost of protecting each space, freeing up funds that can be used to improve protection in more critical areas.

Protecting What Matters Most: Fire Protection Within Every Zone
To protect each unique space within today’s healthcare facilities, it’s important to understand the hazards that may be present within each area and the most appropriate solutions available to protect them.

• Operating Rooms

• • In today’s intelligent operating rooms, robotics and devices like lasers, fiber-optic cables and oxygenation systems can create unique fire hazards. However, traditional water-based fire suppression systems – and even some systems that claim to use clean agents – can cause collateral damage to plastic components such as keyboards, monitors and televisions. They can also cause corrosion to vital electronics containing copper, such as circuit boards and other robotic equipment. Because of this, specialized fire suppression systems should be employed to ensure both people and equipment are adequately protected.
  • Clean-agent fire suppression systems are designed to rapidly extinguish fires while protecting sensitive equipment. Best practices for fire protection within operating rooms include using agents that have been specifically designed, tested and approved for discharge within an occupied space. This means patients and staff do not need to be immediately evacuated if the system is engaged.
  • A secondary option is the use of the FK-5-1-12 agent. Used in automatic extinguishing systems and portable fire extinguishers, FK-5-1-12 can effectively absorb heat during an active fire without harmful, equipment-damaging residues. The EPA recognizes FK-5-1-12 as an acceptable agent for total flooding in occupied spaces.

• Advanced Imaging Suites

• • Imaging rooms using MRI equipment also pose unique fire risks. Radiofrequency fields used for imaging can generate immense heat. Combined with their close proximity to patients, rapid fire detection and suppression is critical. However, MRI rooms also contain powerful magnetic fields creating a unique risk for ferromagnetic materials like steel, a material commonly used in traditional fire sprinkler systems. Non-magnetic sprinkler heads are designed specifically for use within MRI rooms. Engineered from non-ferrous/non-magnetic materials that prevent attraction to the MRI scanner’s magnetic field, these sprinkler heads can withstand static magnetic field strengths up to 7 Tesla (7T), more than twice the magnetic strength of standard 3-Tesla (3T) MRI equipment.
  • Sprinkler systems equipped with quick-response, extended-coverage (QREC) ratings further enhance safety by reducing the total number of sprinklers required within the room, which also helps reduce the total cost of the sprinkler system.
  • Additionally, there are non-metallic portable fire extinguishers made specifically for use within healthcare imaging suites. These rechargeable units are engineered to protect sensitive technologies within MRI rooms, surgical suites, laboratories and other spaces. Extinguishers that use the FK-5-1-12 agent within a compact design can help surgical and imaging suites comply with the EPA’s AIM Act while better utilizing space and providing cost-effective protection.⁴

• Data Center Server Rooms

• • As on-site data centers and robust server rooms in hospitals become more common and necessary for uninterrupted care, protecting those spaces is critical. There are several firefighting options suited for data centers, including water-based solutions like sprinklers and water mist, and halocarbon and inert gas extinguishing systems.
  • Sprinkler and water mist systems are engineered to control or suppress a fire and will not harm people – but may damage equipment. Halocarbon and inert gas systems are designed primarily to extinguish a fire. The discharge of an inert gas system is generally less hazardous to people and will not adversely affect equipment.
  • Clean-agent gas suppression systems are fast acting, electronically non-conductive, leave no residue and do not require clean up. Gas systems have a faster response compared to water-based systems and can detect fires in incipient stages, making a gas system ideal for server rooms.
  • Employing a water-based sprinkler system near sensitive equipment can come with some risks. If water extinguishment is the method of choice, the risk can be mitigated by employing a pre-action sprinkler system in which the pipes are filled with pressurized air instead of water until activated.
  • Pre-action systems operate in two stages. First, smoke or heat detection is employed to sense fires at an early stage, at which point piping fills with water and alarms are activated, notifying personnel of imminent danger. Once fire is detected at the sprinkler head, water is released to suppress the fire. Water-based systems will require extensive clean up post discharge and may require the replacement of sensitive equipment.

• Emergency Power Backup Generators

• • Power backup is a key part of today’s healthcare facility infrastructure. These areas often house large amounts of Class B flammable liquids, such as stored diesel fuel, hydraulic fluids and lubricants. Because of this, fire protection systems must employ state-of-the-art thermal detection to rapidly activate suppression before the fire can spread.
  • A few different suppression solutions can offer ideal protection for power generators, including:

• • • high-pressure CO₂ (if the space is unoccupied)
    • water mist systems for superior cooling attributes
    • clean-agent suppression systems with inert gas types, and
    • Class B:C high-flow fire extinguishers

• • High-flow extinguishers provide the NFPA code-required high-flow rates at one pound-per-second (or greater) of dry chemical agent needed to battle liquid and compressed gas fuel fires.
  • It’s important to select extinguishers that carry a UL Listing for the class of fire being considered. This ensures the extinguisher has been tested to the appropriate standards such as UL 711, UL 299 and UL 154.
  • It’s also critical to closely follow NFPA 10 and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.157 for guidance on the proper selection, installation, use, maintenance, inspection and testing of extinguishers in these areas.

• Energy Storage Areas

• • Alongside the continued use of gas generators to support emergency power, the use of lithium-ion batteries is increasing as a means of backup energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries can produce rapid and hard-to-control fires if they fail, making rapid detection and suppression essential.
  • Lithium-ion detection systems are designed to continuously monitor batteries for off-gassing and to provide early intervention to mitigate thermal runaway. If batteries reach thermal runaway, it’s critical to have a rapid-discharge sprinkler system with direct spray patterns to provide swift suppression.
  • Quick-response, standard-spray sprinklers are often the best choice for these energy storage areas. Extended coverage sprinklers may be tempting to use due to cost savings associated with using fewer sprinkler heads, but that can decrease the speed of water delivery and overall effectiveness, increasing overall risk to life and property.
  • Due to the need for rapid suppression, a wet-pipe sprinkler system is highly recommended instead of a dry-pipe sprinkler system.

Designing Fire Safety Systems for Modern Healthcare Facilities
As technology continues to shape the future of healthcare, it is important to remain attuned to changing fire hazards and modern solutions that can elevate safety while supporting operational goals.

One-size-fits-all fire safety strategies are no longer enough. Comprehensive, layered solutions must be tailored to the unique spaces and hazards present within today’s dynamic healthcare environments. When thoughtfully designed, fire safety systems do more than simply protect buildings, they safeguard patients, staff and critical equipment while helping to preserve continuity of care.

Janet Little and Loren Mann explore the evolving hazards within today’s hospitals and how fire suppression technology can support safe, efficient operations.

1. Deloitte (January 29, 2025), “2025 Global healthcare outlook” 2025 global health care outlook | Deloitte Insights[↩]
2. National Fire Protection Association (December 10, 2025) “Staying Current with the Latest NFPA 99 and NFPA 101 Requirements for Health Care Facilities” Key Health Care Changes in the 2024 Editions of NFPA 99 and NFPA 101[↩]
3. FM Industry “Funding Fire Safety in Healthcare Facilities” Funding Fire Safety in Healthcare Facilities – FM Industry[↩]
4. United States Environmental Protection Agency (April 2, 2026), “Background on HFCs and the AIM Act” Background on HFCs and the AIM Act | US EPA[↩]