GREENSBORO -- Two Triad officials have been recognized for helping to generate public awareness about the benefits of fire sprinklers in buildings.

The American Fire Sprinkler Association presented its Fire Sprinklers Save Lives award to Greensboro Fire Department assistant chief David Douglas and Guilford County emergency services director Alan Perdue.

"Sprinklers do make a difference,” Perdue said. “Anytime we have sprinklers in a building, we have a chance to extinguish that fire or control that fire in its early stages."

Fire destroyed Eastern Guilford High School Nov. 1. Perdue and Douglas say sprinklers might have saved the school.