Fire service and building code officials declare success on sprinklers in Minneapolis
Excerpts from a press release from the International Residential Code Fire Sprinkler Coalition:
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.”
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(R) (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.
Excerpts from a press release from the National Association of Home Builders last Wednesday:
As members of the International Code Council (ICC) prepare to vote on proposed changes to model building codes, Habitat for Humanity International and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) urge these members not to mandate fire sprinklers for all new homes.
Right now, fire sprinklers for one- and two-family homes and townhouses are optional in the International Residential Code, which most jurisdictions in the United States use as the basis of their own building codes.
Concerns over design and maintenance issues, along with expenses related to upkeep and use, have led code officials and other voting members of the Council to disapprove past proposals from residential fire sprinkler manufacturers, installers and other advocates to mandate these systems. Habitat and NAHB are urging these ICC members to do so again at the final code hearings scheduled for next week in Minneapolis.
“Our concerns center on the potential of pipes being susceptible to freezing in colder climates, damage from the accidental discharge of sprinklers and the availability of an adequate water supply in areas served by wells or where water is a scarce resource,” said Sandy Dunn, NAHB president and builder in Point Pleasant, W. Va. “Some homeowners may choose to have them installed anyway, but that’s where these systems should remain: as a choice, not a mandate.”
Elizabeth Blake, senior vice president of advocacy, government affairs and legal with Habitat for Humanity echoed this concern, “Our affiliates build all across the country and around the world. Mandating fire sprinklers fails to recognize their varying needs, and runs the risk of requiring something that may be impractical for some of our partner families.”
