If you live in, run, or have family in an older apartment building, nursing home or assisted living facility, a fire sprinkler recall from 2001 may still apply to the ceiling overhead. On September 24 the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Tyco Fire Products asked building owners and managers to look for Central Sprinkler heads that were recalled 25 years ago and may never have been replaced.

The reason they gave is a fire. On July 13, 2025, a fire at an assisted living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, killed ten residents and injured dozens more. CPSC's release adds one detail about that building:

The facility had not replaced dozens of recalled sprinkler heads, despite identification during a prior fire-safety inspection.

The release does not say whether any of those heads failed during the fire, or whether they played any part in the deaths. It says the fire "underscores the need to remind facilities of the dangers posed by unremediated sprinklers".

What goes wrong with these heads

Inside a sprinkler head, a small cap plugs the water outlet, held in place by a glass bulb or a solder link. Heat releases it, water pushes the cap out, and a metal plate spreads the spray. In the recalled heads, the seal at that outlet is a rubber O-ring. CPSC puts the problem this way: "Minerals, salts, and other contaminants in water can degrade the rubber O-ring seals, which can cause the sprinkler heads to fail to activate during a fire."

When the recall began in 2001, Central had received 4 reports of heads in water-filled pipes failing to activate during a fire, and 9 about dry heads, the kind used where pipes could freeze. Laboratory testing indicated most heads would work, the 2001 notice said, "but certain tested heads required higher water pressure to activate than may be available in particular buildings."

The recall that closed

It was a big program. It covered 35 million Central heads: 33 million for water-filled systems made from 1989 until 2000, and 2 million dry heads made from the mid-1970s to June 2001. About 167,000 more were sold under the Gem and Star names. In 2001 CPSC called it the third largest replacement program in its history. The heads went into houses, apartments, hospitals, day care facilities, schools, dormitories and nursing homes, among other buildings.

Central supplied new heads and the labor to install them, free. From 2003, owners could hire their own contractor and be reimbursed for all or some of the labor. Claims had to be postmarked by August 31, 2007, and the program closed that day, CPSC now says, "after millions of sprinkler heads were replaced". Tyco's FAQ adds that Underwriters Laboratories later changed its sprinkler standards to prohibit O-ring water seals, with a manufacturing cutoff of January 9, 2003.

What the new notice leaves out

This is not a new recall. It adds no models and sets no deadline. Two gaps matter to anyone who finds a recalled head.

Who pays. The free parts-and-labor program ended in 2007. Neither CPSC's release nor Tyco's FAQ says whether Tyco will now supply or pay for replacement heads. CPSC's instruction is to replace them "using a qualified fire-protection professional". Tyco's FAQ says that under NFPA 25, the standard for inspecting, testing and maintaining water-based fire protection systems, "the property owner or its designated representative bears the ongoing responsibility" for inspection, testing, maintenance and any necessary replacement. Tyco does post a list of recommended replacement models.

How many are left. CPSC says only that "a significant number of unremediated recalled sprinklers may remain in service". Neither document gives a count.

An inspection may not look for them

CPSC notes that National Fire Protection Association standards already call for annual, 5-year and 20-year inspection, testing and maintenance of fire suppression systems. Tyco's FAQ says what those checks do not require:

While NFPA 25 does not require the identification of recalled sprinkler heads as part of routine inspection, testing and maintenance, where a fire-protection inspector identifies a recalled component, NFPA 25 calls for that finding to be communicated to the owner in writing so that the owner can arrange for prompt replacement.

By Tyco's account, then, a building's routine inspections need not include a check for this recall, and when an inspector does spot a recalled head, the standard's answer is a written notice to the owner. At Fall River, by CPSC's account, the heads had been found. They had not been replaced.

How to tell whether a head is on the list

Tyco's identification brochure, written for the 2001 program and posted again with the notice, carries a warning in capital letters: do not remove or disturb sprinkler heads to identify them. The glass bulb or heat-sensitive element "can be easily damaged, causing the sprinkler to activate." The brochure suggests starting before the ladder: system drawings, installation and maintenance records, and the spare heads kept in the building's spare head box.

On the head itself, the markings sit on the frame or on the deflector, the flower- or gear-shaped plate at the end.

Maker's mark. CENTRAL or CSC means Central Sprinkler. A G in a triangle means Gem. STAR or a star-shaped logo means Star.
Model. Recalled models include the GB family (GB, GB-J, GB-QR, GB-EC, GB4 and others), the GBR, GB-R and ROC residential heads, the ELO and ESLO heads, the BB, SD and HIP attic heads, and dry heads including A-1, H-1, J and K. The full list is in CPSC's 2001 notice and Tyco's brochure.
Year. A listed Central model stamped 1997 or earlier has an O-ring seal. Central began making heads with a newer seal in 1998 but kept making O-ring heads too, some under unchanged model names. Tyco's FAQ says listed models with date codes from 1998 or later "should be inspected to verify the seal type installed". The brochure's drawings show the difference style by style: on the style it labels A, a flat cap is the O-ring design and a conical cap is the newer seal.

Tyco says a licensed, qualified fire-protection inspector can identify the affected heads.

What to do

Owners and managers of older buildings: ask your sprinkler contractor, in writing, whether the system has been checked against the Central O-ring list, and go back through old inspection reports. CPSC's own wording: "Review historical maintenance records to confirm whether recalled units were previously identified and removed."
Families of residents in assisted living, nursing homes or group housing: CPSC asks that facility administrators and nursing homes be alerted, and a family can ask the administrator the same two questions. Were the sprinklers checked for this recall? Was anything flagged, and was it replaced?
Tenants and condominium owners: CPSC asks that building managers and homeowner associations be told.
Contacts: Tyco's notice page, tyco-fire.com/Central-Sprinkler-O-Ring-Notice, and its email address, Central-Sprinkler-O-Ring-Notice@jci.com. CPSC's hotline is 800-638-2772 (TTY 800-638-8270), and unsafe products can be reported at SaferProducts.gov.

The phone numbers and website printed in the 2001-2007 documents were the closed program's. That website, SprinklerReplacement.com, did not resolve when Hugin tried it on September 28.

What the record does not say

Whether any recalled head failed in the Fall River fire, or what caused the deaths. CPSC's release does not say, and this record does not suggest it.
Which facility, or who there was responsible for the heads. The release names neither.
How many recalled heads remain in service. No number is given.
Whether Tyco will pay for heads or labor now. Neither the release nor the FAQ says.
Whether the old program's phone lines still work. Hugin did not call them.