A proposed ordinance requires the installation in new homes of sprinklers automatically triggered by the presence of a fire. However, a home builder argued that because more than ninety percent of residential fires are extinguished by a household member, residential sprinklers would only marginally decrease property damage caused by residential fires.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the home builder’s argument?
A proposed ordinance requires the installation in new homes of sprinklers automatically triggered by the presence of a fire. However, a home builder argued that because more than ninety percent of residential fires are extinguished by a household member, residential sprinklers would only marginally decrease property damage caused by residential fires.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the home builder’s argument?
The correct option is D The largest proportion of property damage that results from residential fires is caused by fires that start when no household member is present.
The home builder reasons from evidence about most residential fires to a conclusion about the effectiveness of sprinklers in preventing property damage. But this reasoning is faulty because of the possibility that most of the property damage results from the minority of fires excluded from the builder’s evidence. That possibility is realized if D is true.
Thus, D is the best answer. Because the builder’s argument concerns neither the cost of installing sprinklers not a comparison with fire department performance in other locations, B and C are irrelevant. The evidence the home builder cites suggests that formal training is not needed in order to extinguish fires, so A is not the correct answer.
The home builder reasons from evidence about most residential fires to a conclusion about the effectiveness of sprinklers in preventing property damage. But this reasoning is faulty because of the possibility that most of the property damage results from the minority of fires excluded from the builder’s evidence. That possibility is realized if D is true.
Thus, D is the best answer. Because the builder’s argument concerns neither the cost of installing sprinklers not a comparison with fire department performance in other locations, B and C are irrelevant. The evidence the home builder cites suggests that formal training is not needed in order to extinguish fires, so A is not the correct answer.
