Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

In today’s meeting of the International Code Council (ICC) in Baltimore, Maryland, proposals made to eliminate the requirement for residential fire sprinklers in the International Residential Code (IRC) were defeated. These requirements were included in the 2009 IRC, to become effective January 1, 2011. Proposals to modify the 2012 International Residential Code included RB 54, which would have removed the mandatory requirement and made it an optional provision, RB 56, which would delete sprinkler requirements for townhomes and one- and two-family occupancies and move P2904 back to the appendix, making the requirement optional; and RB 57, which would have completely removed the sprinkler requirements from these residential occupancies.

The final action on these issues will be voted upon at the May 2010 meeting of ICC, at which only building officials and code enforcers can vote. However, today’s vote was an important win for residential fire safety because it will force homebuilders and their allies to get two-thirds vote to over-ride these sprinkler requirements at the May ICC meeting, which is considered unlikely.

From Ronny J. Coleman, President of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition

Words cannot describe how great if feels to have won the sprinkler vote again in Baltimore. Even better, to our surprise, we won the committee vote by a margin of 7 to 4. EVERY member of the IRC Committee not representing NAHB voted in favor of sprinklers!

Thanks to EVERYONE who took part in and supported this historic event!!!

Fire sprinklers help to reduce the carbon footprint of properties through the entire cycle of construction. They reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fires, reduce the amount of burned or non-recyclable building materials going to landfills, save energy on rebuilding after fire, conserve water, and reduce diesel fuel usage in heavy fire suppression equipment.

The carbon emissions are not solely from the fire itself; they are also from the billions of material needed to rebuild $14.6 BILLION in direct property loss following fires (2007 statistic from the National Fire Protection Association).

As a former volunteer firefighter in northern NJ, I remember a case in a neighboring community where a paint manufacturer’s fire had well over 4 million gallons of water applied to extinguish. There was a gully located approximately 50 feet from the building. The gully fed into a stream about a ¼ mile away and the fish were jumping OUT of the stream onto the bank because of the toxic, irritating material that was mixed in the water runoff from the firefighting operations.

Although codes may not require fire sprinklers in certain size buildings, fire sprinklers must be in all green construction projects to truly reflect this designation. I ask you – how can a green building, including single-family homes, be considered ‘sustainable construction’ if it is positioned to burn someday without the benefit of an automatic fire sprinkler system to suppress smoke and save materials?

Dominick Kasmauskas is the NY Regional Manager for the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) and Secretary to the NFSA Green Committee, as well as a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. After 32 years in the fire service as a Captain, NJ State Fire Instructor, and Fire Inspector, Dominick went on to gain experience in legislative matters. He is with the NFSA for over 8 years and is also an NFPA Certified Fire Protection Specialist and a NY Certified Codes Enforcement Official.

The U.S. Fire Administration has promoted research, development, testing, and demonstrations of residential fire sprinkler systems for more than 30 years. The research regarding residential fire sprinkler systems has indisputably demonstrated the following:

- Residential fire sprinklers can save the lives of building occupants.

- Residential fire sprinklers can save the lives of firefighters called to respond to a home fire.

- Residential fire sprinklers can significantly offset the risk of premature building collapse posed to firefighters by lightweight construction components when they are involved in a fire.

- Residential fire sprinklers can substantially reduce property loss caused by a fire.

The time has come to use this affordable, simple and effective technology to save lives and property where it matters most – in our homes.

In the past year, the National debate about the benefits of residential fire sprinklers passed a major milestone with the adoption of a change to the International Residential Code that will require fire sprinklers in all new construction. This code change survived rigorous scrutiny, during which all interested parties had ample opportunity to comment on the technical merits of the issue. Since then, parties who oppose this life-saving technology have started a vigorous campaign to enact laws at the state level that will prohibit adoption of sprinkler requirements for new homes.

I encourage every member of the fire service to stay abreast of this rapidly changing situation, and to be ready to voice any concerns that you have about proposed legislation to your respective state legislature. The Fire Sprinkler Initiative website has been established to provide a central clearing house for up-to-date information. Log on to the site at http://firesprinklerinitiative.org – stay vigilant and keep the fire service community informed of developments in your area. Only by working together can we save lives.

It is the position of the U.S. Fire Administration that all Americans should be protected from death, injury, and property loss resulting from fire in their residence. All homes should be equipped with both smoke alarms and residential fire sprinklers, and all families should have and practice an emergency escape plan. The U.S. Fire Administration supports all efforts to reduce the tragic toll of fire losses in this nation, including the recently adopted changes to the International Residential Code that require residential fire sprinklers in all new residential construction.

Glenn A. Gaines
Acting Assistant Administrator
U.S. Fire Administration

The U.S. Fire Administration Announces its Support of a New Building Code Calling for the Use of Fire Sprinklers in New Homes

After 30 years of testing, research and development, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has announced its support of the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC), which mandates the installation of fire sprinklers in all new homes beginning in 2011.

“Every day firefighters bravely enter homes to rescue people from fire and risk their lives under collapsing roofs and floors, because of the lightweight construction that’s so prevalent these days in home building. This endorsement by the USFA comes as great news to fire service professionals across the country, who are supporting the IRC to include residential fire sprinklers as a critical component in fire protection in the home,” said John Viniello, president of the National Fire Sprinkler Association, the longest-tenured fire sprinkler advocacy organization in the U.S.

The new IRC mandate, a response to the growing fire problem in the U.S., is an initiative that could prevent more than 3,000 fire-related deaths and 60,000 serious fire-related injuries across the nation each year. About 90 percent of all fires occur in the home, fueled by new lightweight construction and more flammable home contents. In fact, the new sprinkler regulations are being endorsed by fire service professionals across the country, such as the U.S. Fire Administration, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, and the International Association of Firefighters. Groups including these agree smoke detectors are no longer enough in residential fire protection, as lightweight construction has become more prevalent, house contents are more flammable than ever, and the time available to escape a house fire has reduced from 17 minutes 20 years ago to three minutes today, according to a cost-benefit analysis by FEMA.

“It is the position of the U.S. Fire Administration that all Americans should be protected from death, injury and property loss resulting from fire in their residences. All homes should be equipped with both smoke alarms and residential fire sprinklers, and all families should have and practice an emergency escape plan. The U.S. Fire Administration supports all efforts to reduce the tragic toll of fire losses in this nation, including the recently adopted changes to the International Residential Code that require residential fire sprinklers in all new residential construction. The time has come to use this affordable, simple and effective technology to save lives and property where it matters most – in our homes,” said Glenn A. Gaines, Acting Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Fire Administration.

USFA’s research regarding residential fire sprinkler systems has indisputably demonstrated that residential fire sprinklers can save the lives of civilians and firefighters and can reduce property loss as well as offset the risk of premature building collapse by lightweight construction when involved in a fire.

This was an interesting question that I asked myself before the inclusion of the residential sprinkler requirements in the last remaining model code to accept them for one and two family homes and townhouses.

During the period in time where the International Building Code and International Residential Code (IBC/IRC) committee’s were reviewing code change proposals for this inclusion and subsequently during the committee’s refusals to accept numerous proposals to include them; I was approached by one of our fire suppression personnel who learned that a new Habitat home was being planned in our jurisdiction.

The firefighter informed me of the project and presented me with information on a physical limitation one of the family’s children had. He asked if I thought we could get sprinklers donated. This is what started the research process into the feasibility of the project.

The greatest road block to my surprise was the historic stance the National organization had in not recommending Residential Fire Sprinklers for their projects but historically leaving it up to regional groups and local affiliates to decide. The question that kept coming up was why?

Apparently the greatest concerns were; a perceived lack in ability for homeowners to maintain such a complex system like sprinklers, the potentials for water damage and the potential liability for a non-maintained system and failure to operate.

Seizing the opportunity to provide public education; the local affiliate here in our county was contacted to discuss and address some of the concerns that existed about Residential Fire Sprinklers. I met with the affiliate’s General Contractor and we had a pleasant discussion about the common myths associated to Residential Fire Sprinklers and the ease in maintenance. He suggested that the local Board of Directors for Habitat be contacted to present them with the information we had discussed during our meeting and possibly provide them with materials to explain Residential Fire Sprinklers.

Naturally, as things work out the meeting was scheduled during the ICC Final Action Hearing where the vote for Residential Fire Sprinklers was going to take place. I sought assistance from our Building Official who was willing to take the roll on and to discuss this with the Habitat Board and show them a presentation on Residential Fire Sprinklers. The meeting was a success and the local affiliate was receptive and voted unanimously to having a system donated for this project.

The work now began to find contractors and resources where we could get the materials and installation donated. Various fire protection firms were contacted as we discussed the proposal and details about the Habitat project with them. I received commitments from three companies who all agreed to donate the entire design, materials, installation and labor for the home.

I was now faced with multiple companies who wanted to get involved and a new question; would the project need one contractor or multiple? After contacting each of them back and graciously thanking each for their willingness to assist, I notified them that I decided to go with a single source for our ease and needs in consistency in plan review, inspection and final testing.

The first company to commit was chosen and in an effort to not alienate the other two companies; I asked each of them if they would be interested in getting involved in the future for other local Habitat projects if the affiliate wanted to do more being that this would be their first sprinkled home in our region, in turn both agreed.

The Habitat’s affiliate General Contractor was notified of the company chosen and they began the preparation work for the sprinkler company’s needs to design the system and establish work schedules for their installation. The sprinkler company and the Habitat contractor began to discuss the schedule and other details while we stayed involved to help with the various processes.

This personal touch also assured and reinforced the Habitat Board’s desire that we would be assuring full code compliance in the process. The local Water Department was contacted as we sought relief from tapping and metering fees associated to residential construction and they agreed to assist, which made the entire process work much smoother. We were also able to get an exterior and interior alarm donated that went above the minimum standard requirement in NFPA 13D.

Once the plan review, installation’s rough-in and final acceptance testing were completed and the system was approved, there was a presentation service held to give the home to the family. The fire department was asked to attend and during the ceremony. I was asked by the affiliate Habitat Board to explain the sprinkler system donation process to the guests in attendance. I seized this platform to provide some additional public education to the dignitaries in attendance and afterwards I privately asked the family if I could stay after the ceremony to provide some additional training and operational procedures on the sprinkler system to them. Some of the dignitaries wanted to learn more also, so I figured the more the merrier.

The entire process worked out so well that I honestly believe the additional personal touches, willingness to provide additional education and the development of partnerships allowed us to successfully get the sprinkler system installed. The regional Habitat organization has since agreed to install Residential Fire Sprinklers in all their future home projects.

Habitat homes are typically donated to disadvantaged socioeconomic populations that are directly related to our mission in public education related to fire prevention. We were extremely pleased that the our regional affiliate for Habitat allowed us to assist them with installing residential sprinklers and we look forward to working with them in the future.

So, should we promote the sprinkling of Habitat Homes?

Fire Marshal Paul Dove has been employed by the City of Coldwater Michigan, Fire Department for 14 years and has served 24 years in the professional fire service. He was formerly employed by the Lake Park Fire Department (Palm Beach County Fire Rescue) in Palm Beach County, Florida as a Firefighter, Inspector, Investigator and Officer. He is a past president of the Michigan Fire Inspector’s Society and served as Code Committee Chairmen for ten years. He is currently serving a second term on the Michigan Fire Inspector’s Society Executive Board. He is a former principle member of the NFPA Life Safety Code and Building Code Technical Committee on Fire Protection Features and former member of the NFPA North Central Region Fire Code Development Committee. He is currently an instructor for the NFPA Fire Inspector and Plan Review Certification programs and the State of Michigan Inspector, Plan Review and Firefighter I-II Certification programs. He has conducted fire cause and origin investigations as lead investigator with associated partnerships in arson investigations for over 700 incidents involving fire and explosion for commercial, residential, industrial and vehicle property. He is a court qualified expert witness. During his career he was awarded with the LPFD Combat Cross for Bravery (1992), Rookie Firefighter of the Year (1986) and was awarded the Michigan Fire Inspector of the Year (2001).

Legislative efforts preserve rights of local communities to create strongest fire safety requirements

Leading fire service advocates in Ohio and Maine have successfully protected the rights of communities in their states to adopt residential fire sprinklers and other important safety provisions.

Advocates in Ohio stripped a state bill of legislative language that would have prohibited a state board and local communities from making important decisions about a wide range of fire safety requirements – including the use of home fire sprinklers. A recent amendment to Ohio House Bill 2 would have taken several steps to prevent the implementation of important, life-saving fire safety requirements.

The Ohio legislative language would have effectively removed significant authority from the Ohio Board of Building Standards – the board that has long formulated, adopted and amended the state’s building and construction code and given that authority to the state’s Residential Construction Advisory Committee. At the same time, the amendment would have increased the influence of the Ohio Home Builders’ Association on appointments to the Residential Construction Advisory Committee. The proposed language also would have prohibited any jurisdiction in the state from adopting any fire safety provision that would be stronger than the statewide code requirements.

“This amendment would have severely limited the ability of the Ohio Board of Building Standards to adopt requirements for home fire sprinklers and other important safety advances in Ohio,” said Assistant Chief Bob Bates, Madison Township Fire Department and the legislative committee chair for the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association. “When the facts about this amendment became clear, the fire service worked quickly to stop it, preserving the ability of the Board of Building Standards and local communities to make decisions based on what is in the best interests of public safety.”

In Maine, several state fire service groups and fire safety advocates recently appeared at a public hearing held by the Business, Research and Economic Development (BRED) Committee of the Maine Legislature to discuss Legislative Document 440 – An Act Regarding Exceptions to the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. This bill would have exempted residential one- and two-family dwellings from the provisions of the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. This would have effectively eliminated the residential sprinkler provisions in the state building code and, by default, the ability of local communities in the state to adopt such provisions on their own. The committee did not move the bill forward at a work session held subsequent to the hearing.

The proposed legislation in Maine and Ohio were just two of the latest in series of legislative attempts across the country to prevent the use of sprinklers and other important safety enhancements. Fire safety advocates across the country have been battling statutory efforts to prohibit residential sprinklers in at least 16 states. An anti-sprinkler proposal was defeated earlier this year in Illinois.

“The fire service has worked hard to protect the rights of communities to utilize the proven life-saving technology of residential sprinklers,” said Jim Shannon, president of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). “Unfortunately, calculated legislative efforts by sprinkler opponents continue to pose a real threat to public safety.”

According to the NFPA, approximately 80 percent of all fires occur in homes; however, when home fire sprinklers are present, the chances of dying in a home fire decrease by about 80 percent. Home fire sprinklers control heat, smoke and flames allowing occupants time to escape and giving firefighters a safer environment. Roughly 90 percent of the time, fires are contained by the operation of just one sprinkler. When sprinklers are not present, the fire can burn for minutes, raging out of control, filling the home with toxic smoke and resulting in far greater losses. A recent NFPA report states that sprinklers reduce the average property loss by 71 percent per fire. All model safety codes now call for the installation of residential sprinklers in new home construction.

Anyone interested in public safety and learning more about home fire sprinklers can visit www.firesprinklerinitiative.org and also visit links to other organizations that support home fire sprinklers.

QUINCY, Mass., March 19, 2009 – A statewide legislative threat that would have eliminated the ability of local communities to adopt or enforce requirements for home fire sprinklers has been defeated in Illinois. The Illinois bill died in recent days, but sprinkler opponents continue to push similar anti-sprinkler legislation in several other states.

Despite the fact that all major safety codes now call for the installation of fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes, sprinkler opponents want to prevent the adoption of these codes at the local level. The anti-sprinkler legislation threatens to put lives at stake.

“These anti-sprinkler bills have been designed to take a step backward in public safety,” says Jim Shannon, president of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). “The bills ignore the success of a proven technology and inappropriately take away a community’s ability to protect its citizens with this life-saving equipment. The fire service and other sprinkler advocates worked to defeat this safety threat in Illinois, but the threat of anti-sprinkler bills continues to be very real in other states.”

The legislation defeated in the Illinois Senate was brought down through teamwork and grassroots coordination. A dedicated group of supporters let their voices be heard with phone calls, letters to officials and testimony at a committee meeting. The Illinois bill was defeated by a 6-to-3 vote in committee.

“With the vast majority of the fire deaths in this country occurring in homes, it is unconscionable for anyone to stand in the way of efforts to save lives,” added Shannon. According to NFPA, the risk of dying in a home fire is cut by approximately 80 percent with home sprinklers.

In response to the continued legislative threat, NFPA is making available important information regarding the anti-sprinkler bills and the life-saving effect of sprinklers. Home fire sprinkler advocates can access that information through the Fire Sprinkler Initiative: Bringing Safety Home Web site. This new, free resource is a source of information and contains tools needed to fight for sprinklers in homes. The Fire Sprinkler Initiative, a project of NFPA, is designed to give supporters the resources they need to communicate the need for home fire sprinklers.

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.

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“

I’ve debated the difference between offering and requiring automated residential fire sprinklers in single family dwellings with a friend of mine who’s a home builder. And as a republican, I prefer less government in general. I thought having home builders OFFER residential fire sprinklers would be enough.

A couple of Saturdays ago one of our work trucks got sideswiped by a lady crossing over the line, just missing being a head-on collision by inches. She flipped her SUV, both vehicle’s airbags deployed, both vehicles were totaled, both drivers were wearing seat belts, and both drivers were relatively unhurt. After seeing the damage to the vehicles, it is amazing that no one was seriously hurt. Thanks go to the seat belts and airbags.

THAT IS WHEN IT STRUCK ME…this is why home fire sprinklers need to be required…to save us from ourselves. If people had a choice, many would not have airbags installed in their cars. Some folks know someone who died BECAUSE they had a seat belt on and therefore ignore all empirical data supporting the effectiveness of seat belts due to that one incident.

The parallel is obvious. Residential fire sprinklers can save lives…IF they are installed. And the longer it is optional, the more unsprinklered housing inventory is in place…likely forever to be unsprinklered…tick tick tick tick

George has been the President and Co-Owner of Rowe Sprinkler Systems Inc. since 1998 with corporate offices located in Selinsgrove, PA. George has worked in the fire protection industry for over three decades starting as a design trainee in 1974. George currently holds a NICET Level III Certification in Water-Based Fire Protection System Layout. He holds numerous safety certifications and has been a Certified Sprinkler Contractor in the City of Philadelphia since 1989. George is currently President of the Central PA Fire Protection Chapter of the American Society of Certified Engineering Technicians. George is a member of NFPA Technical Committees for NFPA #3 Commissioning of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems and NFPA #22 Standard for Water Tanks for Private Fire Protection, and the Technical Advisory Board of the American Fire Sprinkler Association.