The problem for New Hanover County Fire Rescue was that public guides to residential sprinklers in single family dwellings for new construction was not available. The purpose of this research was to develop a public guide to residential sprinklers for new construction of single family dwellings. The study used an action research method to answer the following questions: (I) how to work with the builder and associated trades in order to have a fire sprinkler installed into new construction; (2) identify what information should be included in a public guide; and (3) identify what the home buyer should know about residential fire sprinkler systems. Interviews and literature were used to answer the research questions in developing a public guide. A situational analysis was conducted to determine factors causing or contributing to the problem. Objectives were set and strategy developed for creating the public guide. The residential fire sprinkler public guide was created and presented. Six recommendations were identified: adoption of the guide for use within the department, initiate a marketing campaign for residential sprinklers to maximize its effectiveness, identify benchmarks for the guide's success, review the guide in two years for usefulness, initiate future research for developing a residential fire sprinkler guide for areas in the area that may not be supported by the municipal water authority, and commence future research into monitoring for multipurpose fire sprinkler systems in single family residences.