Many devices can be used in the home to reduce the effects associated with electrical and other types of residential fires. While functioning smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and emergency safety ladders increase a family’s chances of escaping injury from an electrical fire, other potential life-saving technology, such as arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs), can actually help to prevent fires from occurring in the first place.

AFCIs are the next generation in circuit breaker technology and provide a higher level of protection by shutting off the electrical circuit before an actual fire results. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) listed AFCIs as one of the many devices that can be used to prevent burns and fire-related injuries.^{7 However, the 2008 National Electrical Code is considering expanding its requirements for AFCIs, with the potential to make homes a lot safer. In fact, experts from the CPSC estimate that AFCI protection in circuit breakers could have prevented 50 percent or more of the fires caused by problems in the electrical system.4}

The costs to homeowners to have builders add additional protection to the home – in the form of AFCIs – is insignificant when compared to the risk of death and injury caused by electrical fires. According to the CPSC, the average professionally installed cost differential between an AFCI and a standard circuit breaker is between $15 and $20. With the average number of circuits requiring AFCIs being 12, this equates to an approximate cost increase of $180 to the homeowner, or .093% of the national average home cost.8 This cost is much less than some "non-safety related" upgrades that are typical in a new home. Existing homes may also be retrofitted with AFCIs at a reasonable cost, and this step should be strongly considered as homeowners remodel their current electrical system.