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Residential Sprinklers - The new whipping
boy
It is our belief that the current
"controversy" over home fire sprinkler requirements is nothing but
smoke and mirrors.
If you could practically guarantee no
loss of any of your family's lives (80%) and protection of all of
the possessions in your home for 1 to 1.5% of the cost of building
your home, what would your decision be?
That is, at the most, $3,000 for a $200,000 house. Is that worth it
for the life of a loved one, and all of your cherished
possessions?
- Since 1988, the Chicago suburb of Long Grove
has provided its residents with added protection from home fires
by requiring all new homes to be equipped with automatic fire
sprinklers. Long Grove was one of the first municipalities in the
area to adopt a home sprinkler ordinance. Ten years later, Lisa
Bailey and her family experienced the importance of that ordinance
firsthand. Ms. Bailey was working in her home office in Long Grove
in November 2001 when she heard the smoke alarm sound in her son’s
room. Her son and friends were playing in the basement at the
time. They all evacuated the house as the home’s fire sprinkler
system began to activate, quickly controlling the fire. Once the
fire department arrived, the blaze was almost completely
extinguished, leaving only minor damage to the walls and bed. In
addition, the automatic sprinkler that activated caused no water
damage and the family was able to spend the night in their home
that evening. According to Fire Marshal Greg Cook, without the
fire sprinkler system, the fire would have spread beyond the
bedroom causing major fire, smoke, and water damage. “If it
weren’t for the sprinklers, we would have lost much more,” said
Ms. Bailey. “We would not have had sprinklers if they weren’t
required. Now, we wouldn’t live in a house without them. They
saved our lives, our home, and my business.”
The two main homebuilding organizations that stand against
mandatory requirements are betraying the people they pretend to
serve.
The National Association of
Homebuilders would not lose a single dime of profit.
They would make more money on the required systems, since they add
all costs to the bottom line and not a single line item is
AT COST. Therefore it is
impossible to tell what their REAL
reason is for opposition.
Habitat for Humanity, on
the other hand, should REALLY be ashamed
of themselves, since they pretend to serve poor people but by their
opposition insure that the poor will remain victims of the great
tragedy that is fire. They are saying that it is better for
poor people to have a home than to to have a
safer home that would keep their families
and possessions intact. Again, since all of their resources are
donated to them, it is hard to imagine why they prefer
killing people over installing
residential sprinkler systems, but they
do.
Put this In your face, NAHB and
HFH:
Sprinkler
provision to remain in next edition of International Residential
Code
In a move championed by fire sprinkler advocates across
the country, the International Code Council (ICC) voted at their
October hearings to retain the provision for residential sprinklers
in new one- and two-family homes in the next edition of the
International Residential Code (IRC). The 2009 IRC included this
provision for the first time. Proposals were then submitted to
remove the requirement for the next edition and were voted down.
In commending the vote, NFPA President Jim Shannon said, "Sprinklers save
lives and this vote shows that we are all aligned towards bringing
this important safety feature to where it is needed most." According
to NFPA, nearly 3,000 people a year die in fires and more than 80
percent of people that die in fires are killed in home fires. The
risk of dying in a home fire is cut by about 80 percent with
sprinklers.
"Getting home fire sprinklers in new homes today
means we will provide a life-saving benefit for generations to
come," said Mr. Shannon. "It is an issue we can all get behind to
lessen the fire problem in this country."
Residential
sprinklers have been required in the following NFPA codes: NFPA 1, Fire Code®; NFPA 101®, Life Safety
Code®; and NFPA 5000®, Building Construction and
Safety Code® since the 2006 editions.
The following links provide information
on home sprinkler systems.
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UL Listed residential fire
sprinklers are required to undergo a comprehensive
evaluation to verify that they meet nationally recognized safety
standards, which are designed to make sure the sprinklers operate as
intended during a fire. UL has published an article that
describes, in simple terms, the performance testing and other
evaluations that UL Listed residential fire sprinklers must
meet.
www.homefiresprinkler.org has a wealth of information about home fire sprinklers,
including a remarkable video called Protect What You
Value Most, which shows what happens when a home has
and doesn't have fire sprinklers. Same house, different
results......
Study, Fuddy Duddy! Some recent
studies on costs and, Facts:
NFPA completed a study of four
counties, two with and two without sprinkler ordinances, and
found there was little impact in the total cost of houses with
sprinkler systems......................
NFPA Residential Sprinklers and
Water Supply systems......................
NFPA US Experience with Sprinkler and other
Automatic Fire Suppression Systems
NFPA Home Sprinkler Fire Cost
Assessment
NFPA Legislative
Alert or your political friends that hate
sprinklers............................
Insurance Services
Office (ISO) Residential
Sprinkler Fact Sheet, or how much you can expect
to save in insurance for a sprinklered home! Over the life of the
house, this can pay for the sprinkler system!
Tyco Fire Suppression Products Analysis of Composite Wood Joists Under
Realistic Fire Conditions........
Institute for Research in
Construction Fire
Performance of Houses
Scottsdale, Arizona was
one of the first cities in the country to require residential
sprinklers for all new homes(1986).
The Scottsdale Report has years of data
for analyzing. By the end of 15 years, 41,408
homes, or more than 50 percent of the homes in Scottsdale, are
protected with fire sprinkler systems. In the 15 years there were 598 home fires. Of the 598
homefires, 49 were in single-family homes with fire sprinkler
systems:
• There were no deaths in sprinklered homes.
• 13
people died in homes without sprinklers.
• The lives of 13 people who would have likely
died without sprinklers, were saved
There was less damage in the homes with
sprinklers*:
• Average fire loss per sprinklered incident:
$2,166.
• Average fire loss per unsprinklered incident:
$45,019.
• Annual fire losses in
Scottsdale (2000-2001) were $3,021,225 compared to the national
average of $9,144,442.
Reduced Water Damage
Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate,
spraying water directly on the fire. 90% of fires are contained by
the operation of just one sprinkler.
According to the Scottsdale Report, there was
less water damage in the homes with sprinklers:
• Sprinkler
systems discharged an average of 341 gallons of water/fire.
•
2,935 gallons of water/fire were released by firefighter hoses.
Cost
Recent
technology breakthroughs make sprinklers more affordable and easier
to install in homes. On a national average, they add only 1% to 1.5%
of the total building cost.
• In Scottsdale, the average cost is
less than $.80 per square foot.
*Based on fires 1998-2001. 15-year data did not
separate residential fire damage from all structures with
fires.
The first ten year report, compiled by Rural Metro, the contract
fire department that served the city for years, can be read here. Now there are
additional five years of data to augment the report. Here
are some facts about the additional five years........
Prince Georges County, which is included in the
NFPA report about home fire sprinkler cost impact above, has also
provided a more
detailed report on the benefits of their 15 year history with
residential fire sprinklers. | 
