system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:If fire water sprinklers are mandatory in buildings, why do a lot buildings burn to the ground?
gpt
1. Sprinklers are not mandated in all types of buildings (private residences, for example).

2. As with any safety measure, sprinklers are not a 100 percent, magic solution to the problem of stuff burning. There are types of fire that aren't easy to put out with the amount of water that sprinklers put out-- or any amount of water, for that matter. If you've got a warehouse full of rocket fuel or gunpowder, or anything else that contains its own oxidizer, that's gonna burn no matter what.

3. Obviously, not every fire that burns down a building with sprinklers is the result of rocket fuel. However, an electrical fire that starts inside the walls of a building will be shielded from the sprinklers on the other side of the wall, and could become enormous, before it even triggers the sprinkler system. And because electricity and water are not friends, it would be a bad idea to put sprinklers inside the walls, where a malfunction could cause huge problems.