Just say no: Tennessee fire chief is against residential sprinklers. Doesn’t think city code should be different than state.
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Chief Jim Swindle from City of Spring Hill website.
From Tennessean.com, an article by Jill Cecil Wiersma on the City of Spring Hill:
City Fire Chief Jim Swindle is asking city leaders to rethink a proposal that would require sprinklers in newly built homes.
Swindle said the state commissioner of Commerce and Insurance and the state fire marshall will not adopt the 2009 edition of the International Code Council, which includes the requirement. He suggested the city follow the state and stick with a previous edition.
“In my career I’ve never wanted to have a code differ from what the state gives us. There’s too much conflict,” he said at the Board of Mayor and Alderman’s work session last week.
“The state doesn’t want to do it, so I don’t think we should do it,” Swindle said.
The board unanimously approved the first reading for the proposed sprinkler requirement earlier this year. But it deferred the final vote for two months at the request of area builders who wanted time to voice their objections, which include added construction costs and possible liability if the sprinklers malfunction.
Nolensville Fire Chief Presley Hughes said these sound like the same arguments that were made before the town passed its own ordinance five years ago. He said sprinklers are especially important with today’s building materials, which include quick-burning laminated lumber and lightweight truss construction.
