If water damage or water volume is of particular concern, a technique called "Water Mist Fire Suppression" may be an alternative. This technology has been under development for over 50 years. It hasn't entered general use, but is gaining some acceptance on ships and in a few residential applications. Mist suppression systems work by using the heat of the fire to 'flash' the water mist cloud to steam. This then smothers the fire. As such, mist systems tend to be highly effective where there is likely to be a free-burning hot fire. Where there is insufficient heat (as in a deep-seated fire such as will be found in stored paper) no steam will be generated and the mist system will not extinguish the fire. Some tests have shown that the volume of water needed to extinguish a fire with such a system installed can be dramatically less than with a conventional sprinkler system.