Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

With the nation’s model building codes now requiring fire sprinkler systems in all new homes, representatives of 28 national and international organizations concerned with residential fire safety just held a National Residential Fire Sprinkler Summit to discuss opportunities for cooperative advocacy at the state and local level. The summit, facilitated by Chief Ronny Coleman, President of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition and former California State Fire Marshal, identified inter-organizational communication and sharing of resources as top priorities.

“It’s clear that requiring fire sprinklers in new homes is good public policy, and it’s very encouraging to see such a high level of collaboration among advocacy groups to promote this cause,” said Chief Coleman. “Having all of these groups represented at the Summit meeting was a clear demonstration that we are ready, willing and able to work together as allies to support jurisdictions in their code adoption efforts.”

The IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition is building a network of state-level chapters to enhance communications among state and local fire safety advocates and national and international organizations, which will also facilitate the sharing and coordination of resources.

“There is no doubt that we’ll see some well-organized and well-funded opposition from home builder groups as we advocate adoption of the 2009 International Residential Code’s sprinkler requirement. Nevertheless, we’re prepared to assist local officials in making the case that requiring fire sprinklers in new homes is the best approach to achieving a sustainable reduction in residential fire losses,” said Jeffrey Shapiro, PE, Executive Director of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition. “The nation’s fire safety advocates are committed to seeing this through.”

About IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition: Founded in 2007, the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition has grown to include more than 100 regional, national and international public safety organizations, including associations representing 44 states, all of which support the mission of promoting residential fire sprinkler systems as a standard feature in new home construction. The Coalition was formed to educate public policymakers on the value of residential sprinkler systems and to support related legislation. More information can be found at www.IRCFireSprinkler.org.

It has been said by some that “if you’re going to speak for residential fire sprinklers in single family homes, it’s imperative that you live in a sprinklered house.” I wish to respond to this claim in order to encourage all supporters of residential fire sprinklers to speak out regardless of the current level of fire protection in their home.

I recently purchased a home which did not have fire sprinklers installed. I have not (yet) installed fire sprinklers in my home; but, I support the passing of residential fire sprinklers in the IRC.

The IRC will only require fire sprinkler installation in NEW single family dwellings (SFDs). It is much more cost effective to install fire sprinklers in new construction when all of the walls are open and all areas of the home are easily accessible. The monetary cost difference for retrofitting a house with sprinklers is sometimes more than double the cost to install them when the house is being constructed.

Take my case for example. The long-term plan for my house is to install fire sprinklers. However, when I do, it is going to be a painful project. There are areas where I am going to have to pull out drywall and (because I have a two-story house) tear up the floor in some areas as well. After all the floor repairs, drywall dust cleanup and painting is done, I will have fire sprinklers in my house. I could see how this would deter your everyday household from retrofitting fire sprinklers into their home.

It is for this reason that the new IRC residential fire sprinkler code requirement IS so important. If the fire sprinklers had been installed when my house was being constructed, then their much lower cost would have been lumped into my 30 year loan. Now, the installation will cost more and would be on a separate loan.

Based on this, I think I am still credible for wanting and supporting residential fire sprinkler requirements to pass even though I do not have them in my existing home. My support of the new requirement is so that future homeowners will not have to wrestle with the retrofit decision versus simply having them installed with the original construction.

Justin Reid is a Project Engineer at RLH Fire Protection out of their Van Nuys, CA office providing fire protection contracting services in California, Nevada and Hawaii. Justin is a registered Professional Engineer in Fire Protection in the State of California. Prior to working at RLH, Justin worked for three years as a consultant at Schirmer Engineering Corporation in their Los Angeles office where he provided building code analysis, performance based design, smoke control third party testing/design and a wide range of other services to numerous clients. Justin graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire Protection Engineering in 2004. While in school, Justin completed an internship at the Schirmer Engineering Washington DC office, worked on Capitol Hill in the Office of Compliance and worked at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Fire Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. Justin is the current President of the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, is a national SFPE Member, NFPA Member and member of the Salamander Fire Protection Engineering Honor Society, Beta Chapter.

The opposition to residential fire sprinkler requirements continues as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) filed a request to appeal on October 30, 2008 with the International Code Council (ICC). The appeal targets the recent passing of RB64-07/08 to the International Residential Code (IRC) which requires residential fire sprinklers to be installed in one and two family homes and town homes effective January 1, 2011.

RB64-07/08, with public comment 2, passed overwhelming on September 21, 2008 with 73% percent approval from close to two thousand voting members at the final action hearings in Minneapolis. The NAHB appeal contends that the ICC failed to provide a balance of interest in voting.

Specifically, the appeal claims that:

- the ICC did not prevent a single interest group, specifically the fire service, from unfairly dominating the voting at the final action hearings.

- the ICC’s governmental consensus process was manipulated and subverted to advance the interests of a single stakeholder.

- the ICC must take immediate and strong action to eliminate the growing influence of third-part funding to secure votes at the ICC final action hearings.

To view a copy of the appeal click on the following NAHB Appeal to ICC Regarding RB64 and RB66

The appeal is currently planned to be conducted in Chicago with conference call capabilities. Parties involved will be notified of the specific details of the appeals hearing at least twenty days prior.

Further, the appeals board is taking written views from interested parties on the request for appeal. You are encouraged to provide your views on this matter by filing a written comment with Michael Pfeiffer, ICC Deputy Senior Vice President of Technical Affairs.

To view the ICC Appeal Policy click on the following ICC Appeal Policy

Many supporters of residential fire sprinkler requirements find it ironic that such claims are coming from the NAHB organization with a long history of representing their members special interests and using their collective strength to influence the code development process.

The ICC develops its codes using the governmental consensus process. Voting members for the building codes are typical building officials and fire officials from government jurisdictions across the country. Non-governmental representatives are allowed to be members of the ICC, but may not vote on code changes. Further, each voting governmental member must physically be present at the final action hearings to cast their vote. In the case of RB64-07/08, the authorized ICC voting members from the fire service exercised their right to vote by traveling to the hearings and officially showing their support for residential fire sprinkler requirements.

Financial assistance for travel expenses of voting members was offered by both proponents and opponents of RB64-07/08. Such travel assistance does not change the view of the voting members, rather it simply helps to remove the travel barrier that hinders some voting governmental members from casting their vote.

The NAHB claims that the vote was manipulated by the fire service, but supporters argue that the fire service has simply exercised their right to vote and participate in the governmental consensus process. The NAHB obviously is not pleased with the outcome of the vote, but their claims that the fire service has “unfairly” dominated the voting process may be going too far in pushing their agenda. Since when is winning a majority of the vote considered “unfairly” dominating? Isn’t that the objective of both sides of any issue being voted on?

Residents of Heatherwood Apartments in Anderson were homeless this morning after a “suspicious” fire destroyed much of senior-living complex early today.

The fire was reported at 4:35 a.m., just hours after firefighters had responded to another fire at the same building. City fire chief Jack Abraham said when firefighters responded to the first call, at 1:27 a.m., they found magazines burning on a table in the lobby.

The cause of the second fire is being investigated today by SLED, Anderson City Fire and Anderson City Police arson investigators.

“It is suspicious, because it was the second fire of the night in the same building, and basically in the same location, which was the center lobby area, only the second fire appears to have started on the second floor.”

Of the first fire, Abraham said the magazines “would have had to have been set on fire intentionally.”

Abraham said all of the building?s tenants had been accounted for as of mid-Sunday morning. Six residents had to be transported to the hospital ?with non-life-threatening injuries,? Abraham said, along with two city police officers who suffered from smoke inhalation.

The Red Cross opened a shelter at Cornerstone Church, and 45 displaced residents were transported to the shelter, Abraham said.

The building was not equipped with a sprinkler system, which Abraham said was not a code violation because when the apartments were constructed, sprinklers were not required.

“If this building had been sprinklered, as with most residential structure fires, the damage would have been minimal and the occupants would have been eating breakfast at their breakfast tables, not dislodged for probably months,” he said.

To read the full article click here.

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The Department of Homeland Security’s United States Fire Administration (USFA) has issued a report today examining the causes and characteristics of fires occurring in residential structures and buildings. The report, Residential Structure and Building Fires, was developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of USFA.

The report presents an overview of residential structure fires and trends for one-and two-family, multifamily, and other residential structures. This report also addresses residential building fires for each of the three residential occupancy types.

The report is based primarily on 2005 NFIRS data and the 2005 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) survey data. In 2005, there were an estimated 396,000 residential structure fires, resulting in 3,055 civilian fire deaths, 13,825 civilian injuries, and $6.9 billion in loss.

“Most fires and related deaths and injuries in residences are preventable,” said United States Fire Administrator Greg Cade. “It is important that you take the necessary precautions to ensure your home is fire safe. Install and maintain smoke alarms and sprinklers, and establish and practice your escape plan. By being prepared, you can help reduce the chances of fire injury or even death.”

Fires in residential buildings—a subset of residential structures—accounted for 95 percent of residential structure fires and fatal fires, 97 percent of residential structure fires with injuries, and 95 percent of fires with dollar loss. There were an estimated 376,500 residential building fires in 2005. These fires claimed the lives of 2,895 civilians and injured an additional 13,375 civilians.

Cooking (41 percent) and heating (13 percent) are the leading causes of residential building fires. Cooking also accounts for approximately 25 percent of fires that injure civilians. Smoking (20 percent) is the leading cause of fatal residential building fires.

Download the Residential Structure and Building Fires Report

Residential Fire Sprinkler Market Potential Exceeds $3 Billion Annually – Over 10,000 Additional Skilled Workers Needed

New residential fire sprinkler market analysis projects the market potential and labor demand created by the passing and eventual widespread enforcement of amendment RB64-07/08 to the International Residential Code (IRC).

September 22, 2008 - A national market potential for the installation of residential fire sprinklers is examined in a new report Residential Fire Sprinklers Market Growth and Labor Demand Analysis (PDF, 913 KB), authored by fire protection industry expert Russ Leavitt, SET, CFPS, with contributions by Steven Scandaliato, SET, and Ryan J. Smith. According to the report, the required installation of residential fire sprinklers in newly constructed one and two family houses has the potential to exceed $3 billion annually.

Using three different methods of calculating market potential, results for residential fire sprinkler installations in the United States ranged from $2.9 billion to $3.2 billion annually. Further, four types of labor were analyzed to project the number of additional positions needed as residential fire sprinkler requirements are adopted across the country.

“There’s no question that the recent passing of residential fire sprinkler requirements to the International Residential Code will change the industry in a breath and timeline never experienced before,” said Russ Leavitt, SET, CFPS. “How the industry responds to the need for additional skilled labor will determine how quickly this market potential can be fully realized.”

The report considers the extent of design, installation and jurisdictional enforcement labor that will be needed to accommodate the residential fire sprinkler market growth. Most staggering is the projected amount of sprinkler installation labor that will be required as the conservative analysis calculates over 7000 additional positions.

The Residential Fire Sprinklers Market Growth and Labor Demand Analysis, published by Fire Smarts, LLC, is available for download at www.ResidentialFireSprinklers.com . Fire Smarts, LLC, is a leading provider of online educational and marketing services focused on fire protection.

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You will receive an email confirmation with a download link to instantly access the “Home Fire Safety - Consumer Bulletin.”  This incredibly thought provoking report may forever change your views of home fire safety.

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Voting members of the leading building code body in the nation, the International Code Council (ICC), overwhelmingly supported a residential fire sprinkler requirement for all new one- and two-family homes and townhouses.

Fire service and building code officials united to approve the requirement and countered opposition. The code proposal, RB64, easily overcame a procedural requirement that mandated a super-majority of two-thirds approval. This represents an unprecedented step forward in advancing home fire safety in the United States.

The vote, held today in Minneapolis, was supported by 73 percent of the voting members in attendance.

The IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition, an association of more than 100 fire service, building code official, and safety organizations representing 45 states, assumed a leadership position and secured unified support for this issue over the past 18 months.

“Our team worked hard to rally support throughout the United States for a residential fire sprinkler requirement, but our supporters deserve the recognition for showing up en masse in Minneapolis,” said Ronny J. Coleman, president of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition. “They know from experience that sprinklers are the answer to the nation’s fire problem.”

Fire deaths in the United States realized a dramatic decline over the past three decades as smoke alarms became common – today, more than 95 percent of homes have them. Still, more than 3,000 people die each year from fire, and a home burns every 80 seconds. Residential sprinklers are the only fire protection technology that works to rapidly contain fire, effectively giving families more time to escape the deadly heat and poisonous gases of an unchecked fire. Therefore, the proposal’s passage has also pleased home safety advocates across the country.

“We work with families every day that are directly affected by the ravages of fire,” said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. “We are thrilled not only because this moment has taken decades of demanding work to achieve, but because it provides protection for potential victims of future fires.”

Kaaren Mann, a fire safety advocate and the mother of a fire victim stated in her testimony, “the cost to put sprinklers into the home where my daughter died would have been less than what I had to pay for the flowers at her funeral.”

The sprinkler mandate will first appear in the 2009 International Residential Code® (IRC), which will be published by the end of the year. Forty-six states use the IRC as the basis of regulating new home construction.

“The vote was a historic moment in residential fire safety – and is a significant step in a long journey before sprinklers are installed in every new home,” noted Ronny J. Coleman, president of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition. “We’re now going to move forward at the state and local level to ensure new code requirement is adopted.”

The potential impact of this code change is discussed at “Residential Fire Sprinklers Market Growth and Labor Demand Analysis“

The Residential Fire Sprinklers Code has passed!

See the article “ICC Approves Residential Fire Sprinklers in the International Residential Code“

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With the International Code Council (ICC) hearings in progress at the Minneapolis Convention Center, September 14-23, 2008, the Wall Street Journal featured the article Mandating Fire Sprinklers for the Home. This timely article puts residential fire sprinklers in the national spotlight as a critical vote approaches.

Starting on the evening of September 20, 2008, members of the ICC will vote on the proposed amendment to the International Residential Code (IRC) that, if passed, will require the installation of residential fire sprinkler systems in all one and two family houses and townhouses.

Over the last several years the support for residential fire sprinklers has been gaining momentum as hundreds of cities and counties adopt local ordinances requiring their use. The Residential Fire Safety Institute, a nonprofit that promotes fire safety, says it has a record of 400 counties and cities that have passed ordinances requiring sprinklers. Eight years ago, that number was only 200, says Roy Marshall, the organization’s director. He adds that “most of the movement has happened in the last two or three years.”

While local ordinance adoption has been a huge step forward for the fire protection community, adopting of residential fire sprinkler requirements in the IRC takes home fire protection to an entirely new level. The IRC is the model code governing residential construction in 46 states plus the District of Columbia. Once residential fire sprinkler requirements are included in the IRC it will be a challenging uphill battle for opponents to get the requirement removed at the city or county level.

The push for amending the IRC is headed by the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition, which has the backing of more than 100 national, state and local organizations including the IAFC, IAFF, NVFC and the National Association of State Fire Marshals.

We are at a pivotal point in home fire protection. Considering the high number of home deaths and injuries currently experienced in the United States, this code change has the power to alter the future of public safety.

“If the sprinkler resolution passes so that the IRC requires residential fire sprinklers in all new homes, in the next few years we will see a transformation in the fire sprinkler industry like no other to date”, says Ryan J. Smith, President of Fire Smarts, LLC. “Home fire deaths and injuries will start to decline and the fire sprinkler industry will experience a rapid growth in demand that will be a welcomed challenge to it’s already limited supply of skilled labor.”

The supporters of residential fire sprinkler requirements have good reason to be optimistic. The last time this proposal was voted on it missed a 2/3 majority vote by only less than 100 votes. This time, thanks to the unifying effort of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition, attendance from voting members of the ICC that support the proposal should be at an all-time high.

Thousands of individuals wait anxiously for this weekend when the final vote for the 2009 edition of the International Residential Code takes place…hopefully confirming once and for all that residential fire sprinklers are essential life safety devices for all homes.

It may be of interest to you that on the Internet you can view a webcast of the hearing from the comfort of your home. While there is little entertainment value here, you do have an opportunity to watch the course of home fire protection forever change.

View live webcast of ICC Final Action Hearings