Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

Before a fire sprinkler system in a house can help protect its occupants from a fire, it has to survive at least two difficult obstacles. First, it has to be tough enough to last through possible neglect from its owners. Second, it must be able to handle the cold stuff that Mother Nature can throw at it. This article will discuss how a home fire sprinkler system can need only minimal maintenance and survive the nasty winter surprises through proper design and material choice.

One thing a house has to endure is its occupants. Homeowners do not always follow through on things that need to be done. “Change your air filter on your HVAC system”; “change your batteries in your smoke alarms”; ”clean you rain gutters”, and countless other reminders are continually bombarding us. Why, because many of us will NOT DO THEM if left on our own. Some maintenance must be done to live in a safe home. However, reducing required maintenance should be a primary objective.

Other fire sprinkler codes (NFPA13 – commercial buildings and NFPA 13R- for apartments and condos) both require at least one professional inspection every year and require a 24/7 electronic alarm that ensures valves are not being tampered with and a number of other items. These systems are designed with an understanding that they will be regularly maintained by trained professionals.

This is NOT the case with home fire sprinklers. None of these frills are involved with a 13D system (NFPA 13D is the standard for fire sprinklers used in single and two family homes). It will only get the maintenance that the homeowner is willing to give it. This is where purposeful design comes into play.

The 13D code goes a long way in helping a designer make an almost maintenance free automatic fire sprinkler system. It requires only the standard operating water pressure of the domestic (regular household) plumbing system. This is a huge factor in simplifying the design. Other sprinkler codes (NFPA13 – commercial and NFPA 13R- for apartments and condos) require that they have a fire department connection installed. This means that a fire truck can pull up near the building and hook up a hose to the structure’s sprinkler system to pressurize it with the pump on the fire truck. While this effectively increases the efficiency of the sprinkler system by increasing the water pressure, it requires the sprinkler system to be piped out of material that can withstand water pressure at least twice what the normal plumbing system in your house would need. Necessary standards like this reduce the material options for the designer in 13 and 13R systems. Because of its light weight and ability to handle the pressure and heat, CPVC plastic has worked well, especially in 13R systems, and has become the standard.

A 13D fire sprinkler system only has to operate at normal house water pressure. No fire department connection is needed. This has opened the door for a “multipurpose” system with the domestic water (unheard of in 13 or 13R systems). A multipurpose system (sometimes called “flow-through”) allows the sprinkler and the domestic plumbing to use the same water. For the first time, a fire sprinkler system does not have to have a dedicated water supply. A multipurpose system also means that an anti-backflow prevention device is not needed since the water in the sprinkler system is not stagnate as in a “stand alone” system. The water in a multipurpose system is potable since it is an extension of the domestic plumbing. [Usually, the water closets (toilets) are fed by the water in the sprinkler system. When a toilet is flushed, fresh water flows through the sprinkler system.] Having no anti-backflow device means there is one less part to fail in the future and one less item to be maintained.

Also, when using the 13D multipurpose design, as long as the pipe is rated for use in fire systems, a designer is permitted to use other types of piping materials. One of the newer choices of pipe is crossed-linked polyethylene or “PEX” pipe. This is the pipe used by many plumbers across the country in new houses for hot and cold water. This material works well for multipurpose fire sprinklers. This multipurpose design and material choice keeps the maintenance cost very low and keeps the quality of the system very high.

The range of needed maintenance for a home fire sprinkler system can widely vary depending on the systems design. For instance, a multipurpose fire sprinkler system can be almost maintenance free (visually check for leaks and turn on a test valve for about a minute each year) with no cost to the homeowner. On the other end of the scale is a “stand alone” (traditional, dedicated water supply) system with an anti-backflow device that is charged with anti-freeze. This type of system will need some maintenance every year by professionals. This will include inspection of the anti-backflow device and checking the strength of the anti-freeze and recharging as needed. This can run as little as fifty to as much as hundreds of dollars per year, depending on how much anti-freeze solution you need. The “stand alone” systems are designed similar in some ways to the 13R systems and they reflect this by requiring some of the same regular maintenance. Keep in mind that maintenance is not a negative thing in commercial or high density residential structures; it is by design, to keep them running smoothly and is required by code. But 13D has no such enforceable requirements and does not need those heavy maintenance codes if we keep it simple by design.

This being said there are places where a higher maintenance, antifreeze filled system is the best choice (like a vacation home that will not be occupied in winter and will have the potable water turned off and drained to winterize the house), but they should be rare. The standard fire sprinkler design should be safe and efficient, yet simple and needing the lowest possible upkeep with the fewest parts to fail. This is going to require the sprinkler contractor to help educate fire authorities and inspectors. Many fire authorities have only seen 13 and 13R systems and have yet to learn how multipurpose systems are designed. This effort will benefit all concerned, especially the homeowner.

The house goes through other problems in its life too, like energy outages and severe weather. Let’s face it, our climate, no matter where we live, seems to throw us some interesting curve balls and the future forecasts are more of the same. The likelihood for a house to have sustained energy outage with severe cold weather is higher than the chance of fire during its lifetime in most neighborhoods.

Remember, under normal usage, within a heated house and properly insulated piping, both CPVC and PEX pipe will give fine service for many years. Think of the regular plumbing in the house…under normal usage, no anti-freeze is needed and the pipes do not break. The multipurpose system is an extension of that regular plumbing system. But, what about the not-so-normal times? What about the combination of cold weather and no power? What happens to the sprinkler system then?

As an example of what can happen, let’s look at the weather in the State on Kentucky in January of 2009, just last month. While it is common for the area to dip below freezing in the winter, nobody expected to see an ice storm come through and lay three inches of ice over a substantial part of the state. With that much ice, massive power failures occur. So now you have cold temperatures for an unexpected duration and no power to many homes. In just two to three days the interior of many homes is below freezing and there is very little the average homeowner can do to stop it. For the plumbing in these houses, insulation is turning into a moot point as the cold has fully penetrated. It should be noted that a home fire sprinkler system in this frozen condition will not fight fires…it will have to thaw out first…but it should not be doomed to bursting and flooding the house. That is just poor design and material choice.

Unfortunately many installers of home fire sprinklers cling to the 13R model of sprinkler systems and want to construct it out of CPVC, which is accepted by the code. However, CPVC does not handle freezing water inside it very well…it shatters. If the same home has a multipurpose system piped with PEX tubing, it has a much better chance of survival.

PEX, by its nature, will expand when frozen, and then return to its normal size when thawed, without breaking. Yes, it is possible to freeze and break PEX pipe, but it has a MUCH higher chance of making it through a freeze than CPVC. This is one of the reasons that in thousands of homes, plumbers have made the switch to PEX for their domestic water service installations in the past decade. It is also the most common choice for in floor hydronic heat. Many plumbers agree that they have MUCH less in-wall freeze breaks with PEX than with copper or CPVC.

You can see that design and material choices in the home fire sprinkler system will be making a difference here. It is about increasing the survival odds of the fire sprinkler system. Under these circumstances the choice of CPVC piping and either no antifreeze or not enough antifreeze in closed systems have doomed the fire sprinkler system to catastrophic failure. The attics in the homes in this scenario will have shattered piping waiting to thaw and then flood their attics, creating a nightmare for the homeowners to try and fix.

While a CPVC system with a large amount of antifreeze is the time tested method for a sprinkler system to have a chance of being functional during such a situation, it also generates the maximum maintenance expense to the homeowner, assuming the homeowner will stay faithful to the larger maintenance schedule (antifreeze breaks down with age and must be replaced to be effective).

Maybe some innovation is in order, to come up with other ways to prevent a system from freezing, with low to no maintenance. Even when efforts to keep it from freezing fail, the material choices made should maximize cold weather survivability. There must be a balance found between cost of long-term maintenance issues and the strength and stability of the fire sprinkler system to withstand things like power outages and surprise cold weather.

We need to design the home fire sprinkler system to survive the unexpected cold and require minimal maintenance, so it can be there to fight potential fires for decades to come.

Michael Cox serves as sales and marketing manager for 13dPEX.com, a design and distribution company in Bellingham Washington, dedicated to NFPA 13d sprinkler systems. This firm supplies design, tools, pumps, and installation materials to plumbers and others who are contracting to install 13d systems. Specializing in multipurpose or flow through design using PEX tubing as a primary material. He has worked in life-safety and fire prevention for more than two decades, holds a Washington State certificate for sprinkler design, and has worked with AHJs and Fire Chiefs through out the state. He is currently teaching a seminar program designed to prep plumbers and others to get their state certification.

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.

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.

Building a house? From floor plan to floor coverings, from cabinet design to counter tops, there seem to be endless choices to make when it comes to your new home. There is one choice that should be made, though, and it can save your life, and your new home. The choice is to have a residential fire sprinkler system installed during construction.

In America, in 2005 there were 396,000 residential fires, these caused 3,055 civilian fire deaths, 13,825 civilian fire injuries, and $6.9 billion in property damage. This was an average year. This does not count the injury and loss of life of our firefighters involved with residential fires. Studies by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s United States Fire Administration indicate that the installation of residential fire sprinkler systems could have saved thousands of lives; prevented a large portion of those injuries; and eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in property losses.

Millions have installed smoke alarms in their homes in the past few years, but a smoke alarm can only alert the occupants to a fire in the house … it cannot contain or extinguish a fire. Residential fire sprinkler systems can! This is why organizations like the National Association of State Fire Marshals; National Fire Protection Association; Home Safety Council, and the Residential Fire Safety Institute are actively promoting fire sprinklers to be installed in all homes. Losing 3000+ people a year to home fires is unacceptable.

When a fire starts at home it can become deadly in just three minutes. Fire sprinkler systems supply powerful fire protection, automatically, before the fire can spread, and before the fire department gets called, thus slowing or stopping the flames and poisonous smoke so you and yours can get out safely. This is an investment in your new home that really pays you back when its needed!

How do they work? Each sprinkler system is unique to the home where it is installed. It is designed by a state licensed sprinkler designer. Piping is networked through your home and is fed by the same water source as the plumbing for the home, the water main, or, if a well is used a storage tank may be needed. Quick-response sprinkler heads are connected to the piping in the walls or ceilings. These heads may be concealed so that only a flat three inch circle is visible. Each sprinkler head is temperature sensitive, when the heat from a fire reach about 165F, water flows from only that particular sprinkler head. Only the extreme heat of a fire will cause the sprinkler to operate. In most cases that will be all that is needed to stop the fire.

There is very little maintenance needed with a modern residential fire sprinkler system. Keep the sprinkler water valve on and perform a simple test you can do yourself, or hire your contractor, to verify water flow and the working of the fire bell or alarm system.

Let’s clear up some myths about residential fire sprinklers:

Myth – When one sprinkler goes off, all the sprinklers activate.
Only the sprinkler over the fire will activate. The sprinkler heads react to temperatures in each room individually. Thus, fire in a bedroom will activate only the sprinkler in that room.

Myth – A sprinkler could accidentally go off, causing severe water damage to a home.
Home sprinklers are specifically designed and are rigorously tested to minimize such accidents. Furthermore each sprinkler system is pressure tested at a much higher pressure than your house plumbing and yet it will only run at household pressure, so it much less likely to leak than the plumbing.

Myth – Water damage from a sprinkler system will be more extensive than fire damage.
The sprinkler system will severely limit a fire’s growth. Therefore, damage from a home sprinkler system will be much less severe than the smoke and fire damage if the fire had gone on unabated or even the water damage caused by water from firefighting hose lines.

Myth -Home sprinkler systems are expensive.
Current estimates suggest that when a home is under construction, a home sprinkler system should cost between 1 and 2% of the total building price. This is often the price of upgrading carpet or counter tops.

Myth – Residential sprinklers are ugly.
Residential sprinklers are now being designed to fit in with most any decor. These can lay flush with the ceiling with less than a quarter of the profile of smoke detector. If you so desire they can be factory painted to match your decor.

Certainly price is a factor in your choice of this safety system. Because every system is designed for the individual home, it is very difficult to set a per square foot price. But 1% to 2% of the total building price is very close. It depends on the water supply and the complexity of the ceilings, where most of the sprinkler heads will be installed. (This price will fall dramatically when all homes in a community have fire sprinklers installed, because permit charges, water purveyors fees, and other hidden charges will be reduced or eliminated). When done during new construction, the price of these systems is rolled into your mortgage, just like the electrical or heating system. All major insurance companies offer a valuable discount off your premiums, if there is a fire sprinkler system, so shop around. When you consider the tax deduction on your mortgage and the insurance discount, your sprinkler system will cost you less a month than some people spend on coffee drinks. Remember this price gives you something like a firefighter on duty in your house 24/7.

Most importantly, keep this in mind, when you add smoke detectors to a home the chances of surviving a fire are about 50%. When you include a fire sprinkler system along with the smoke alarms, you increase that figure to 82%. Now remember that in your home, these figures are for you and those you care for the most. Of all the choices that will be made when building your new home, this is the only one that could someday literally save the life of you or your loved ones.

Michael Cox serves as sales and marketing manager for 13dPEX.com, a design and distribution company in Bellingham Washington, dedicated to NFPA 13d sprinkler systems. This firm supplies design, tools, pumps, and installation materials to plumbers and others who are contracting to install 13d systems. Specializing in multipurpose or flow through design using PEX tubing as a primary material. He has worked in life-safety and fire prevention for more than two decades, holds a Washington State certificate for sprinkler design, and has worked with AHJs and Fire Chiefs through out the state. He is currently teaching a seminar program designed to prep plumbers and others to get their state certification.

The build green concept revolves around the environment, and is a fine idea that we can, if we modify our way of building and the materials we use, build a house that is in many ways more friendly to the environment both inside and outside the home. There has been much said about nearly every aspect of putting together a house, and a lot of thought as to ways that could be modified to make the structure more earth friendly. There seems to be one area that has got very little attention.

There is nothing green about a house on fire! A home burning down is a tragedy on a lot of levels. It could include loss of the home itself, and most, if not all the personal property inside. Also personal injury and even loss of life for you, your loved ones, and for the firefighters responding to the event. Environmentally such a fire produces tons of poisonous gases and particulates that get pushed into the air, and wastes thousands of gallons of potable water in fighting the flames. Certainly if there was a way to avoid this happening it would be worth a good look. In the USA fires kill more people each year than all other natural disasters combined, and most fire deaths (80%) occur in the home. We lose, on average, over 3000 people a year to home fires. In other words, someone dies from a home fire in this country roughly every 175 minutes. Add to that many thousands of injuries, millions of dollars in property loss, and untold damage to the environment per year. Not very green at all.

At a time where there seems to be such an interest in Green Building, in protection of our environment, it seems reasonable to build into a home not just the ability to warn the inhabitants of a fire, but also to suppress that fire if not put it out entirely, this would help the people, the house, and the environment. Smoke alarms are not enough. Smoke alarms have long been required in residences to warn those at home of a fire. These though can not protect the lives of those people, they can only announce a danger. If someone fails to hear or can not physically respond to a smoke alarm, the house fire will continue to grow until it can not be controlled and the loss we spoke about earlier is the result. While smoke alarms certainly are of high value in making a home safer, they have their limits and the fire continues to burn.

Residential fire sprinkler systems are the solution, they represent the gold standard for home fire safety. The design code is federal and designated NFPA 13D for single family residences duplexes, and manufactured homes. In conjunction with smoke alarms they vastly increase the chance of home fire survival, and as a nice side effect they contain the fire to one room and usually put the fire out.

Unlike commercial fire sprinklers, residential fire sprinklers were not designed to save the structure, the property within, or to help the environment. These are just the natural unintended side effects of a good design. The design goal of these systems is to saves lives by delaying flashover. As a fire grows in a home it is lethal with toxic gases very quickly. It reaches a point called “flashover” in as little three minutes (depending on the fire load or what exactly is burning). This is the point in a room where the fire has heated the room so much that the flammable gases and the contents of the room reach auto-ignition temperatures, first the smoke appears to catch fire and then the whole room, everything, bursts into flames. NOTHING lives through flashover. This being the case home fire sprinklers were designed to stop flashover by cooling the fire long before it can reach the kind of heat needed for flashover to occur.

These sprinklers can be concealed in the walls or ceiling and are part of the house plumbing system. Multipurpose systems carry potable water in the piping and stay fresh by circulation every time a water closet (toilet) is flushed. Because of this design, they do not require expensive antibackflow devices as commercial fire sprinklers. And they run at the same pressure as your home plumbing, so there is no need for the high pressure system also needed in commercial applications. The heads are independent of each other in their activation. They activate only by the extreme heat caused by fire (155F to 165F). Ninety percent of the time only one head is needed to control a fire. They never all go off at once like in the movies and TV.

This relatively new design of fire sprinklers (NFPA13D) are much more affordable than their heavy duty cousins used in commercial service and apartment buildings. Because most of the sprinkler heads are placed in the ceiling, the more complicated the ceiling the more heads are used. This makes it very tough to say it is so much per square foot, especially for custom homes. However, on new construction one can figure about 1%-2% of the price of the home. To retrofit a home is only slightly higher. This puts the price bracket about the same as upgrading flooring or cabinetry. Also home insurance is reduced because you have lowered the risk of catastrophic fire loss.

By adding residential fire sprinklers to your new or existing home you essentially are having a fire department on duty in your home twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. This certainly has a positive impact on the environment within your home. By extension it protects your community’s environment by drastically reducing the chance your home ever burning down and all but eliminating an avoidable tragedy.

These custom designed fire sprinkler systems can bring a great deal to your peace of mind into your home. A fire sprinkler system would make your house more green. They allow you and yours the needed time to escape if a fire should start. They use only a small fraction of the water a firetruck and crew will use to control or extinguish the fire. Because of fighting the fire so early, there is much less fire to fight. That means less pollution released into the air, less smoke damage, less fire damage, less water damage (compared to a what the fire department will use), all of which is good for your home, your pocketbook, and the environment.

Michael Cox serves as sales and marketing manager for 13dPEX.com, a design and distribution company in Bellingham Washington, dedicated to NFPA 13d sprinkler systems. This firm supplies design, tools, pumps, and installation materials to plumbers and others who are contracting to install 13d systems. Specializing in multipurpose or flow through design using PEX tubing as a primary material. He has worked in life-safety and fire prevention for more than two decades, holds a Washington State certificate for sprinkler design, and has worked with AHJs and Fire Chiefs through out the state. He is currently teaching a seminar program designed to prep plumbers and others to get their state certification.

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Steve Sviggum will host three town hall meetings this month to discuss fire sprinkler provisions that soon may be adopted as part of the state’s residential building code for new home construction. The 2006 International Residential Code is the basis for the residential code, and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry will soon begin the rule adoption process for the updated residential code, which will be based on the 2009 IRC. Because the International Code Council voted in September 2008 to add a fire sprinkler provision to its 2009 IRC, requiring fire sprinkling in all one- and two-family homes and townhouses that build to the code as of Jan. 1, 2011, Minnesota may include the sprinkler provision when it adopts the 2009 IRC.

“The new fire sprinkler requirements will have an impact on Minnesotans,” Sviggum said. “I appreciate the additional safety features that residential sprinklers can provide for Minnesota families and firefighters, but I also recognize the potential of a steep price tag attached. We need to discuss the potential changes to the building code that could affect homeowner safety and housing affordability.”

He said the meetings are an opportunity for an objective, balanced discussion about the issue. DLI will forward all information and comments to the advisory committee that will recommend changes to the Minnesota residential code.

The town hall meetings are set for Dec. 12 at the Rochester Public Library; Dec. 16 at Bemidji State University; and Dec. 18 at Metro State University in St. Paul.

By David Slade – The Post and Courier

Months after the General Assembly approved new incentives for installing fire sprinkler systems, they remain unavailable because not one municipality or county has adopted the tax breaks.

The incentives were meant to encourage people to install sprinkler systems in homes and businesses where they are not required by building codes, but declining government revenues have thrown cold water on the likelihood of the tax breaks becoming widely available.

“I don’t know of anybody who’s done it, and I don’t know if anybody will,” said Robert Croom, assistant director of the South Carolina Association of Counties. “At this point, it’s a money thing.”

“You’ve got state aid being cut, counties are furloughing people, and this would be one more thing.”

The push to encourage sprinkler systems followed two 2007 fires: the Sofa Super Store fire in Charleston in which nine firefighters died, and the house fire in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., that killed seven South Carolina college students.

A study of the Sofa Super Store fire commissioned by the city of Charleston concluded, among other findings, that the fire would have been quickly controlled with only minor damage had there been a sprinkler system.

It’s up to local governments that collect property taxes to adopt the incentives, which allow people who install sprinkler systems to recoup half their cost.

There would be a 25 percent tax credit against state income taxes and a 25 percent credit against local property taxes, but only if a local ordinance were adopted.

“Municipalities have the opportunity now,” said State Fire Marshal John Reich. “I hope they do the right thing and make the right choices.”

Efforts to mandate the installation of sprinkler systems in commercial buildings, first proposed in 2004 after six people died in a fire at a Greenville Comfort Inn, have been repeatedly rejected by state lawmakers.

Charleston officials this year sought legislation that would allow cities to go beyond state building codes in requiring new sprinkler systems, but that effort also failed.

Instead, lawmakers adopted the tax incentives, and without dissent overrode a veto of the measure by Gov. Mark Sanford.

According to the state Municipal Association, only the city of Greer has taken up a sprinkler incentive ordinance, and that ordinance was tabled.

“In my heart, I had hoped that Charleston would be the first to adopt this,” Reich said.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said he expects the city will adopt incentives in 2009, but he would have preferred that the state allow the city to adopt tougher building codes.

“Our request to the General Assembly was to give the cities the authority to require (sprinklers),” Riley said. “What we have is an unfunded mandate.”

The way the tax incentives are structured, any municipality that adopts the plan would essentially be agreeing to pay a quarter of the cost of each sprinkler system installed in a building where a system would not be required, through a property tax credit.

The state would pay another quarter of the cost, through income tax credits.

The legislation was authored by Republican House and Senate leaders from the Charleston area.

Sen. Glenn McConnell, who sponsored the Senate version of the plan, said he was disappointed to learn no municipality or county has adopted the incentives.

“That’s disappointing news,” he said. “I had hoped there would be some forward motion on that.”

Rep. Bobby Harrell, who sponsored the House version, said that because no one has adopted the incentives, the Legislature must take another look at them.

“It’s important that we cause more buildings to have the safety features that save lives,” Harrell said.

The Municipal Association has prepared a model ordinance for municipalities that may be considering adopting the incentives. It has been available for about two weeks.

“I think they don’t have a real big political push (to adopt the incentives), from what I hear from council members and mayors,” said Ed Schafer, legislative counsel for the association.

The same legislation that created the incentives also prohibits water systems from charging fees to connect new sprinkler systems that exceed the system’s actual costs. Regardless of the fate of the tax incentives, that part of the measure will reduce the cost of new systems in many areas.

To read the full article click here.

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.

By Andy Johns – Chattanooga Times Free Press

In the middle of a housing slump, the last thing Tina Rice wants to do is tack on a few thousand dollars to the price of home construction.

Which is why she’s against a move requiring fire sprinkler systems to be installed in all new homes, a move that some builders say could add between about $4,000 to $10,000, depending on the size of a house.

“To me it’s like you’re almost getting rid of your first-time home buyer,” said Ms. Rice, the Bradley County building inspector. “The way I look at it, you’re pricing people out of buying a home.”

Ms. Rice spoke out against the fire-sprinkler portion of the 2009 International Residential Code in September while attending the International Code Council’s Final Action Hearings in Minnesota. But the council went ahead and voted in favor of sprinklers, so all one- and two-family residences and townhomes built after Jan. 1, 2011 in areas where the code is adopted must have sprinkler systems, according to an code council spokesman.

Under Tennessee law, however, it could be years before any new homes in the state must have fire sprinkler systems, according to Ms. Rice.

And once the code is adopted, local governments have the option to amend it to exclude certain portions or simply fail to enforce all the rules, according to Michael Colopy, spokesman for International Code Council.

“In other words, this is a model code,” he said. “By itself it doesn’t have the force of law.”

State law requires counties with building inspectors to operate under a code that’s no more than six years older than the code adopted by the state. Since Tennessee only recently adopted the 2006 code, it could be years before the state adopts the newest code.

Hamilton County would probably follow the cue of the state, according to Pat Payne, director of building inspection for the county. Hamilton, which now uses the 2003 code, would do what it needed to remain in compliance with the state, he said.

Proponents of the sprinkler systems say they save lives, which is worth the small cost of installation.

“It’s two Big Macs a month on a 30-year mortgage,” said Wayne Waggoner, executive director of the Tennessee Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association.

The U.S. Fire Administration estimates home sprinkler systems would cost around $1 to $1.50 per square foot in new construction, which Mr. Waggoner said was true on his own house. The sprinkler system in his 3,800-square-foot house cost $3,900, he said.

At that cost, the system is well worth the expense, Mr. Waggoner said, citing the dangers fire pose to property, residents and fire officials.

To read the full article click here.

By Sonja Elmquist – Greensboro News-Record

A firefighter for 17 years, Jim Robinson has seen fire’s effect on people’s lives over and over.

“I’ve stood on someone’s front yard and I’ve handed someone their Bible out of their rubble pile,” Robinson said. His belief: If everyone had sprinklers, “we could pretty much give them their whole house back.”

Now building his dream house far from the city down a narrow gravel road, he’s not taking any chances. His sprinklers were installed Tuesday.

“Do I want my house to burn down? No way,” Robinson said. “A sprinkler system is like having a firetruck sitting in your front yard 24/7.”

What was a choice for Robinson could eventually be a requirement for anyone building a new house.

An international code-making body recently approved a recommendation that could mean that, beginning in 2012, new one- and two-family homes built in North Carolina might be required to have fire sprinklers.

Commonly seen as invasive, messy and expensive, sprinklers rarely pop up high on home buyers’ — and home builders’ — list of add-ons.

But firefighters say that perception doesn’t match reality and could cost lives.

The N.C. Office of the State Fire Marshal supported the adoption of the requirement in the 2009 International Residential Code, said Kristin Milam, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The International Code Council approved the change at its annual conference in September.

Most states, including North Carolina, use the International Residential Code as the basis for their state and local residential codes.

The National Association of Home Builders opposed the change because of the systems’ potential to discharge accidentally and cause water damage. The systems also need maintenance to remain functional, according to news releases of the association.

The earliest the N.C. Building Code Council could adopt the revised international code would be 2012, Milam said.

Two recent fires in the city illustrate sprinkler advocates’ point, said David Douglas, Greensboro’s fire marshal.

“The circumstances are identical, but the outcomes are dramatically different,” Douglas said. According to the fire department:

Ten months apart, each in their own home, Gwendolyn Williams and Tracy Travis heated oil on their stoves. Each walked into another room, forgetting about the oil in the kitchen.

Williams went to sleep. When her smoke detector went off, she remembered the oil, went to the kitchen, saw it on fire and ran outside to call 911. The only damage to her apartment was a mark on the floor where the pot landed when it fell from the stove. Sprinklers had put out the fire before firefighters arrived.

When Travis went back into his kitchen to check on the oil, he found it on fire. He tried to put it out by spraying it with water from the sprayer on his kitchen sink, but when the water hit the hot oil, the oil erupted, burning Travis and spreading the fire.

By the time firefighters arrived, the kitchen was gutted and there was heat and smoke damage to the rest of the 1,300-square-foot house. The house was condemned.

Travis was hospitalized in the burn center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center with serious burns to his head and arms.

Although people are cautioned not to put water on a home grease fire, the 12 to 15 gallons of water dispensed by a residential sprinkler is adequate to cool the oil and suppress eruptions caused by steam from the smaller amount of water coming from a sink, Douglas said.

For the past six years, fires in dwellings with sprinklers have caused far less damage than fires in those without, according to fire department data.

Since July 1, fire damage in homes with sprinklers has averaged one fifth of the amount of damage in homes without sprinklers according to data from the fire department.

For the entire six-year period, damage in homes with sprinklers has averaged about $6,000, while damage in homes without them has averaged about $20,000, according to the data.

But minimizing damage is secondary to the main purpose, which is to save lives.

To read the full article click here.