Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

Webinar presentation will educate plumbing contractors on the rapidly changing residential fire sprinkler market and why they are in the best position to perform these services.

This webinar is available for online viewing Click on the following link to access this webinar online - Webinar – Grow Your Business With Residential Fire Sprinklers

A new webinar has been prepared by Fire Smarts, LLC on behalf of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC) to inform plumbing contractors across the nation about the emerging residential fire sprinkler market and why they should be paying attention. The webinar is part of the Online Business Management Training offered by the PHCC.

The “Grow Your Business With Residential Fire Sprinklers” webinar will be presented by fire protection industry expert, Russ Leavitt, SET, CFPS, on February 18, 2009 at 3:00pm EST. Mr. Leavitt will update participants on the most recent code changes affecting residential fire sprinklers and how this rapidly evolving market presents a compelling business case for plumbing contractors. Further, participants will be introduced to the “barriers of entry” that must be overcome to enter the residential fire sprinkler market and capture this opportunity.

“With the recent addition of residential fire sprinkler requirements into the International Residential Code, there is no question that these systems will become a standard component in new home construction across the country,” said Ryan J. Smith, President of Fire Smarts, LLC. “The labor demands are near overwhelming for the fire sprinkler industry, creating a need and an incredible opportunity for plumbing contractors to assist in providing these services.”

The “Residential Fire Sprinklers Market Growth and Labor Demand Analysis” published by Fire Smarts, LLC in September 2008, projects that over 7000 additional positions for sprinkler installation will be needed as residential fire sprinkler requirements are adopted and widely enforced across the country over the next decade. An adequate amount of skilled labor is essential to ensuring that residential sprinkler systems can be properly and cost-effectively installed. A growing number of industry experts agree that plumbing contractors play a critical role in the successful implementation of residential fire sprinkler code requirements.

“There is a lot of interest by PHCC members in this new market,” said Ike Casey, PHCC’s Executive Vice President. “We cannot afford to lose this market—especially in the current economy. I encourage all PHCC members and potential members to participate.”

Registration is open to all interested parties and PHCC members receive a discounted tuition rate for the course. For more information and to register for this webinar visit the PHCC Meeting Registration Website. This webinar is the first in a series of residential fire sprinkler educational and training opportunities that will be offered by the PHCC.

About PHCC: The PHCC – National Association is the oldest trade association in the construction industry and the premiere organization for the plumbing, heating and cooling professional. Since 1883, PHCC has been the leader in promotion, advancement, education and training. Today PHCC has more than 4100 contractor members from open and union shops, who work in the residential, commercial, new construction, industrial and service and repair industry segments.

About Fire Smarts, LLC: Fire Smarts, LLC is a leading provider of fire protection educational and training resources. The company operates the home fire protection resource website, Residential Fire Sprinklers .com , frequently publishes articles and reports on the latest industry developments and utilizes its team of Fire Smarts Faculty members to create custom training solutions for contractors, fire and building officials, and business organizations.

Just weeks after the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) request to appeal residential fire sprinkler requirements in the 2009 edition of the International Residential Code (IRC) was defeated, the home builders lobby has moved on to their next attempt to attack required residential fire sprinkler use. This time they are introducing state legislation in an effort to block the local adoption of these requirements.

To date, the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition is aware of two states where these bills have been introduced: Arizona with the recently filed HB2267 and North Dakota with the recently filed SB2354.

The language used in these bills makes it clear that this is a direct attack on residential fire sprinklers and the recent IRC requirements. Consider the following text from the North Dakota bill:

“Neither the state building code nor a building code adopted by a city, township, or county may include a requirement that fire sprinklers be installed in a single family dwelling or a residential building that contains no more than two dwelling units.”

It is expected that this type of legislation will be introduced in other states across the country. At a national level, the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition and fire sprinkler advocacy organizations are coordinating resources to identify and respond to this type of legislation.

Some may wonder what chance this legislation has of passing since it restricts a state from choosing to follow a nationally recognized code standard. Fire safety supporters hope that this latest home builder tactic will be quickly recognized by state legislators as another blatant attempt by home builders to dictate public policy. After all, it was the hundreds of voting fire and building officials from across the country who approved adding the residential fire sprinkler requirement to the IRC by utilizing a code making process specifically designed to give government officials, not special interests, the final word.

Ironically, Arizona, one of the first states to see this type of proposed legislation, is home to a shinning example of how effective residential fire sprinkler requirements are, the City of Scottsdale. For over 20 years the city has required fire sprinklers in every home and history has shown an impressive record of fire safety and declining costs of system installation. How could state legislators from the “poster child” city of residential fire sprinkler success support a bill denying the same fire safety progress in other areas of the state?

State and local groups are encouraged to watch for the use of these tactics. If you become aware of a similar bill in your area, please notify the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition to ensure that an organized response is given.

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UPDATE 1/28/2009: Similar proposed legislation has been introduced in Connecticut. See Connecticut HB-6204.

By Michael Woodward – AndersonValleyPost.com

While most of the California state fire code is expected to be adopted at the county level without protest, Shasta County Fire Marshal Jim Diehl said that the sprinkler ordinance will get the most attention.

The code mandates a sprinkler system be included in the construction of almost all new structures, including single-family homes. Cost for sprinklers averages at $1.50 per square foot of a structure, said Anderson Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Howard Fincher.

Diehl said pre-existing multi-family residential structures may be required to retrofit their buildings with sprinkler systems under the new ordinance.

Diehl was reticent to discuss the ordinance’s proposed requirements, as they are still being hashed out by city and county fire districts.

“I have no idea what the final product will look like,” Diehl said.

Still, Diehl said he hoped the sprinkler ordinance would pass when the new fire code is voted on by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors several months from now.

The Orange County Fire Authority released a video comparing fires in similar residential buildings – while only one was equipped with sprinklers.

“Fire sprinklers control a fire prior to flashover,” Fincher said. “Flashover is a phenomenon that occurs when so much heat is produced by a fire that other combustibles in the area are preheated to their ignition temperature through radiation and convection.”

In the non-sprinklered building, it took less than two minutes for room temperature to reach 1,600 degrees at 7 ft., 420 degrees at 4 ft., and 132 degrees at ground level. In 13 minutes, even the ground-level room temperature reached 1,249 degrees.

“You’re long gone by then,” Fincher said.

In the building with the sprinkler system, the ground-level temperature never went higher than 82 degrees before the fire was eventually put out.

“That’s a survivable environment,” Fincher said.

Aside from indicating the importance of moving along the floor during a fire, the video showed how adept sprinklers are at putting out fires.

The sprinkler system is generally programed to start when it senses 168 degrees, at which point the sprinklers spray water and a fine mist within an engineered radius. The mist is heated by the fire in the room, turns to steam, and helps to wet a larger area.

The sprinklers emit about 20 gallons per minute, Fincher said.

“A little bit of water goes a long way, because it catches the fire in its growth state,” he said. “It does add to the cost of a new home, but the savings are that you may save your child’s life,” Fincher said.

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By Jackee Coe – The Arizona Republic

A fire in a back room of a trailer home in Goodyear served as a reminder of basic fire safety practices and the value of residential fire sprinklers.

The Goodyear Fire Department received a call about 5:30 p.m. Saturday that a home in the Canada Village community on the 18000 block of West Lynwood was on fire, spokesman Russ Braden said.

“When we pulled out and we’re driving down there, we could see a column of smoke,” he said.

Firefighters arrived on scene in about six minutes and had the fire under control after 15 minutes, he said. Buckeye and Avondale units helped extinguish the blaze.

No one was home and there were no injuries, but damage was estimated at $140,000.

The owner of the home told officials the fire was probably started by a radiant floor heater someone accidentally left on, Braden said.

“That’s why you always have to be very careful with those. They get very hot,” he said.

Braden noted there was no fire sprinkler system in the home. Sprinklers aren’t required for homes smaller than 5,000 square feet, but they can make a significant difference.

“It really limits the damage and exposure to everyone,” he said. “They’re life safety. You save lives with them, protect property, reduce the damage because in the time it takes us to get there, it’s going to burn that much longer.”

Sprinkler systems go off quickly and are “very effective” in containing the fire before it spreads, he added.

“I’ve been on both sides where I’ve seen where it really could have made a big difference and I’ve seen . . . where they’ve made big differences with stopping the fire and forward progress and saving a lot of property,” Braden said.

The Fire Department hopes to see more fire sprinklers added to homes as Goodyear continues to grow.

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Since Thanksgiving 2008, there have been more than 158 fatal fires in the United States resulting in over 200 fire fatalities.

Just between between Christmas Eve and January 7 the following fatality fires were reported by the news media:

* On Christmas Eve, four died in a house fire in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. All of the victims were children and officials cannot be certain whether smoke alarms worked.

* Four adults and three children died in a southwest Philadelphia home the day after Christmas when gasoline was used to fuel a kerosene heater. There were no working smoke alarms in the home.

* In Baltimore, two people died in a fire above a grocery store. A young couple died in the blaze and investigators found no working smoke alarms in the building.

* In Washington, D.C. on New Year’s Day, six individuals died in a house fire on Jackson Street, Northeast. While the cause was listed as accidental/electrical, officials are not sure smoke alarms worked properly.

* Eight people, including four children, died in a residential fire in Richland, New York. The cause is still under investigation, however officials believe the fire may have been caused by a wood stove. The home had no working smoke alarms.

* Three people, including two teenage girls, died after an early morning house fire in Ringling, Oklahoma. Officials say the fire, caused by a lit gas stove being used as an alternative heating source, began while at least two of the victims were still in bed.

* There were no working smoke alarms in a Southeast Side Chicago home where three children — a 7-month-old boy, a 2-year-old boy, and a 3-year-old girl — died in a fire.

“The 2008 holiday season and the start of 2009 may be recorded as one of the deadliest for residential fires in recent memory of the fire service,” said Cade. “Not only have there been a significant number of preventable fires, but the occurrences of multiple fatalities resulting from these fires are simply unacceptable within our nation. There should be a smoke alarm protecting every person in this nation today, particularly as we sleep.”

The US Fire Administration, NFPA and fire service leaders from across the country are urging residents to prevent tragedies by testing and maintaining smoke alarms and practicing a fire escape plan.

Smoke alarms are a very important means of preventing home fire fatalities by providing an early warning signal so family members can escape. The combination of smoke alarms and an installed residential fire sprinkler system that controls the fire provides the best protection in a home fire.

By ERIN COX – HomeTownAnnapolis.com

Fire sprinklers will soon be required in all new Anne Arundel homes after the County Council approved the mandate last night.

Firefighters have lobbied for the across-the-board sprinkler rule for the better part of a decade, and one veteran volunteer firefighter called last night’s victory a “landmark piece of legislation.”

With the New Year, the council also resolved several other lingering issues from 2008, including tweaking the county’s doghouse rule, expanding the solar energy tax credit and rejecting a measure that mandates pollution-reducing septic systems in some homes in the environmentally sensitive Critical Area of the Chesapeake Bay.

Fire Chief J. Robert Ray urged the council to adopt the new sprinkler plan, which expands the current mandate for townhouses, duplexes and apartment buildings to include single-family homes.

“Tonight you have the opportunity to tell all Anne Arundel County residents that their lives are valuable, not just those who are protected by happenstance because of where they live,” Chief Ray said.

Recently retired former Chief David Stokes and a Maryland State Fire Marshal both attended last night’s council meeting to watch the sprinkler legislation pass 6-1. Councilman Ed Middlebrooks, R-Severn, voted against the bill.

Home builders have resisted mandatory sprinklers in residential homes because the systems add several thousand dollars to the purchase price and buyers don’t want them. The home builders were pushing for an optional program that would require them to offer sprinklers to home buyers. A similar program in Howard County showed most buyers elect not to have the systems installed.

Prince George’s County has required sprinklers in all homes since 1992, and fire officials report that there have been no fire deaths in homes with sprinklers since then.

Last night, representatives of the home building industry asked the council to delay the bill for at least a year because the slumping housing market could not support the added costs of installing sprinkler systems.

The measure introduced by Council Vice Chairman Cathy Vitale, R-Severna Park, whose husband is a career firefighter for the county, came after two devastating fires in the Annapolis area late last year.

In October, a man, 42, died in a fire at his home, which had neither a sprinkler system nor working smoke detectors. In December, a five-alarm blaze destroyed three homes in the Oyster Bay neighborhood before firefighters could extinguish the flames.

New homes will be exempt from the mandatory sprinkler rule if the house’s water pressure can’t meet some technical specifications laid out in county law. Those would be homes on well water for the most part.

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