Builders Oppose Putting Fire Sprinklers in Homes

HOT SUMMARY:

• Besides saving lives, home fire sprinklers:
• • reduce fire damage by up to 97%,
  • reduce water usage to fight a home fire by upwards of 90%, and 
  • reduce the amount of water pollution released into the environment.
• A tragic Christmas Day fire that killed two boys ages 10 and 12 provides evidence that smoke & file alarms are ineffective when people are awakened from a deep sleep and find their one escape route down the stairs engulfed in flames. 
• If over 50,000 people die nationwide each year in home files, and new homes have become so flamable that escape times have shortened from 17 minutes to 3, then opposition to fire sprinklers is deplorable or worse. 
• A Texas legislative battle over fire sprinklers resulted in something more devious - the State preventing local ordinance making, including requiring stricter building codes to save lives. 
• The following articles describe a national movement and a Texas builder-written amendment that was added to a plumbing bill on the last day of the 81st legislative session and went largely unnoticed. 
• The most recent International Building Code (IRC 2009) requires automated file sprinkler systems in homes, just as in apartments, condos, and commercial office buildings. By rejecting these stronger building codes and preventing municipalities from adopting them, Texas positioned itself as a laggard behind more progressive states and nations. 
• Builders lobbying for this amendment argued that fire sprinkler systems add too much cost to homes and that only sprinkler companies would benefit. Their real concern, however, was more likely that the systems, installed by subcontractors, would add another source of construction defects that could increase their liability. 
• HOT believes that the added cost would be small if sprinklers were mandatory but very large if they were optional. That's because builders would be able to price them artificially high to discourage a choice that they clearly don't want consumers to make. In reality, the cost spread over a 30-year mortgage amounts to less than the cost of coffee per week. 
• Gov. Rick Perry was caught between his buddies in the powerful homebuilder's lobby, with their large campaign contributions, and a public safety issue that attacks municipal rights and nullifies existing statues for cities that already have adopted the new building codes. Perry's own Governor's Mansion would have been spared by sprinkler systems, but instead it burned down. And since he often argued against federal legislation that infringes on states' rights, we thought he'd find it difficult to oppose the rights of municipalities to set local building codes. In the end however, he signed the bill into law. Builder money does talk. 
• d

4/14/10: FM Global report proves that sprinklers protect the environment

Christmas house fire leaves 2 children dead

Grandparents Irving, Cathy Bailey hospitalized

By Diane Heilenman (dheilenman@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4682) and Sheryl Edelen (502-582-4621), Courier-Journal.com, 12/25/2009, http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2009912250342 

HOT: The real tragedy here is that automatic fire sprinklers would have contained the fire and prevented the deaths. Another tragedy is that homebuilders continue to lobby against laws requiring them (next paragraph). They say fire and smoke detectors are enough and the cost of fire sprinklers is unjustified. For the parents in their ground floor master bedroom, that was true, but the two boys died when they could not escape from their upstairs bedroom, even though the home had the added protection of a working fire/security alarm system. They fell asleep to visions of sugar plums and woke from a deep sleep to blaring alarms at 4:30 a.m. Imagine their confusion and panic as they found their only exit path down the stairs engulfed in flames. How tragic! SB 1410 (Introduced | Final) originally amended licensing standards for plumbers but ended up prohibiting Texas cities from protecting their citizens’ health, safety and welfare and adopting requirements for fire sprinklers in new homes after January 1, 2009.

A Christmas Day fire claimed the lives of two grandsons of a prominent Louisville couple as the family and firefighters joined to try to save the victims.

Flames already were shooting through the roof in the rear of the Glenview home of Cathy and Irving W. Bailey II and through the front entryway when firefighters arrived shortly after 4:30 a.m. Friday, alerted by an alarm system.

Chief Chris Aponte of the Harrods Creek Fire Department said the adults at the house were outside when firefighters arrived and were attempting a rescue, and fire crews joined in.

“Whenever there are lives involved, it changes the dynamic” at a fire scene, Aponte said. “The guys worked hard to do what they could. We had some experienced firefighters on the scene and they couldn't make headway in it.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Maj. Henry Ott of the Louisville Metro Arson Squad. The victims, whose names were not released, were ages 10 and 12, he said.

The Baileys were injured, as were three firefighters, and the couple's home was mostly destroyed.

Aponte said two of the injured firefighters had minor burns and a third had an ankle injury.

In a statement released on behalf of the family, the Baileys said their injuries were serious but not life-threatening and that they were in a hospital. It did not identify the hospital.

“Two children were killed in this tragedy,” said the statement, provided by Scott Jennings, a family spokesman. The family requested privacy “at this time of great loss.”

Cathy Bailey, a former ambassador to Latvia under President George W. Bush, is a major Republican fundraiser and is considering a run for the U.S. Senate next year. Irv Bailey is former chairman and chief executive of Providian Corp., guiding the company through a decade of growth to its merger with the Dutch firm Aegon in 1997.

The Bailey property sits on a winding, narrow street, Longview Lane, that runs off River Road in eastern Jefferson County. The street splits into a dead-end just past the property and a cul-de-sac that contains six large houses with spacious yards.

By late afternoon Friday, what remained of the Bailey house had collapsed into the basement, Ott said.

He said five adults were in the house when the fire started - four on the first floor and one in the basement. The boys were on the second floor, he said.

Aponte said 45 firefighters from four departments fought the blaze - Lyndon, Worthington and St. Matthews, in addition to Harrods Creek.

He said the two victims were around the ages of two of his children, and many of the firefighters on the scene had children of their own at home.

“My family and I all had a big hug together” when he finally arrived home, he said. “But the images that we added to the photo album in our minds today will be something we won't ever forget.”

Reporter Joseph Gerth contributed to this story.

New Jersey requiring home fire sprinklers would save lives for the price of a cup of coffee

By David Kurasz, New Jersey News Room, 10/13/2009
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/commentary/new-jersey-requiring-home-fire-sprinklers-would-save-lives-for-the-price-of-a-cup-of-coffee

New Jersey's Department of Community Affairs (DCA) currently has a unique opportunity to approve proposed regulations that would mandate the installation of automatic fire sprinklers in all new homes beginning in 2012.

These regulations are the result of new lightweight construction and more flammable home contents which have created an alarming fire safety threat to our citizens, our fire professionals and our first responders.

The new code, the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC), is backed by the U.S. Fire Administration, the National Fire Protection Agency, as well as many other fire safety groups and officials, but even though almost 90% of all fire fatalities occur in the home, and
at least 60,000 people are seriously injured in fires nationwide each year, home builders are aggressively fighting against these measures, knowing that their lightweight construction is putting their future home buyers at risk as well as the firefighters who bravely rush in to rescue people under collapsing roofs and floors.

In fact, the time to escape a fire has been reduced from 17 minutes to a terrifying 3 minutes over the past 20 years, fire deaths and injuries have increased, and the most vulnerable populations - infants, elderly and disabled citizens - are more at risk than ever.

These safety measures will not be adopted if the home builders have anything to say about it. Through the years, the home builders have refused to work with the State and fire protection advocates to understand the growing fire problem in New Jersey and to find solutions that effectively protect the lives and property of homeowners.

Instead, they continue to sell expensive upgrades, such as granite countertops, to home buyers, yet they claim automatic fire sprinklers, which wouldn't cost more than new carpeting to install, are too expensive for the home buyer. In fact, the cost is estimated at $1.61 per square foot, which is approximately 1% of the value of the home, according to the FEMA benefit-cost analysis on residential fire sprinklers. When the cost is spread over a 30-year mortgage, it comes down to less then the price of a cup of coffee per week. This is a small price to pay when it comes to saving lives.

David Kurasz is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board

Builders Fight Proposed Home Sprinkler Requirement

Upcoming Richmond Vote Is Latest Battle in Multi-State War

By Dusty Smith, The Center for Public Integrity, 7/24/2009
Source: http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/1583/

Firefighters and sprinkler manufacturers are locked in a fierce national battle against home builders over a proposed requirement for sprinklers in all new homes and townhouses, with a crucial vote scheduled in Virginia early next week.

After years of debate at the state and municipal level, the fight took on new importance last fall when the International Code Council, a leading national safety organization, endorsed the concept. The new standard would take effect for homes built in 2011. Not since the widespread adoption of regulations mandating smoke detectors in private homes in the 1970s have the builders, the firefighters, and the safety device-makers faced such a showdown. After smoke detectors were required, fire deaths in the United States fell more than 40 percent from about 6,000 a year to roughly 3,500 annually, according to the federal Department of Homeland Security. And while advocates argue that new sprinkler ordinances could drastically suppress property loss and reduce the number of deaths or injuries in home fires, home builders say sprinklers provide little additional protection and that the only real winners will be the sprinkler manufacturers.

If the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development adopts the proposed requirement at its July 27 meeting - the current staff recommendation is to deny it - then the commonwealth would be among the first to do so. State agencies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have recommended adoption of the change but builders are threatening to take the battle to those state legislatures. This week, a state committee in Michigan voted 10-2 to reject the new requirement. The building industry has succeeded in lobbying for prohibitive legislation in at least three states - Idaho, North Dakota, and Texas.

Seven firefighters were injured, one with severe burns, in this May 25, 2008 fire in Loudoun County, Virginia. Local officials say a sprinkler system would have prevented injuries. “With this issue, the benefit does not justify the cost,” said Michael L. Toalson, executive vice president for the Home Builders Association of Virginia (HBAV). “Today’s modern house, with its many features to prevent loss of life and home, is adequate. This whole thing is a result of efforts on behalf of sprinkler manufacturers to change the building code to benefit their own industry.”

Firefighters disagree. The proposed requirement “will save lives,” asserts Alan W. Perdue, the Guilford County, North Carolina, emergency services director, and a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ board of directors, which has endorsed the new code.. “It’s one single item that can truly help us decrease the number of injuries and fatalities annually.”

HOT: Note that the builder perspective comes from a business with a profit motive, and the firefighter perspective comes with a public safety motive. Remind your elected representatives that they are supposed to protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens and not the profits of large donors to their campaigns.

Jeff Shapiro, executive director of the International Residential Code Fire Sprinkler Coalition, a group of fire service and sprinkler industry advocates, said the building industry has blocked a trend toward requiring sprinklers for nearly a decade, just as it opposed smoke detector requirements in the 1970s.

“They have effectively been able to block this change for a number of years,” Shapiro said. “This is really the culmination of a long effort on the part of the people in the fire safety industry.”

Fight Over “Model Code”

The builders charge that the only reason the question has reached the national level is because the sprinkler manufacturers’ lobby participated in “hijacking” the code-making process.

When the International Code Council (ICC), an organization that promotes model codes for building safety and fire prevention in commercial and residential construction, held its annual meeting last September in Minneapolis, 73 percent of the roughly 1,700 members present favored the sprinkler requirement. The code council, created in 1994, has an open membership of about 50,000 code enforcement officials, architects, engineers, designers, and contractors, any of whom can attend its annual meetings, though only 28,000 are eligible to vote on the proposed model codes, which are typically adopted by most states, cities, and counties.

The Home Builders Association of Virginia’s website features a headline declaring “Fire Officials Hijack ICC Code Process,” accusing the home sprinkler industry of packing the 2008 ICC meeting with firefighters, whose travel costs were paid by the sprinkler industry. In fact, an ICC committee had recommended against the new requirement, but the membership in attendance that day supported the change anyway.

“Today’s modern house, with its many features to prevent loss of life and home, is adequate.” Michael L. Toalson, Home Builders Association of Virginia.

The ICC Appeals Board considered a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) complaint regarding the firefighters’ travel expenses, but concluded “by unanimous vote that there was no material and significant irregularity of process or procedure” in the adoption of the new code. The building industry will not have another chance to change the ICC code until 2011 because changes are considered on a three-year cycle.

Shapiro conceded that the Sprinkler Code Coalition paid for some firefighters’ travel (he said he didn’t know how many), but said the paid travel was a response to a similar action the home builders had taken at a previous meeting. He also pointed out that anyone who accepted money from the coalition was required to sign a contract indicating that they were not being asked to vote for or against the code change.

Homebuilder’s executive Toalson said that among the 1,700 voting members who participated in the sprinkler code votes, he believed roughly 900 of them were fire service members. The code council could not confirm Toalson’s claim, and Shapiro said he didn’t know how many fire service members were present.

Do Sprinklers Save Lives? 

According to the National Fire Protection Agency, an international nonprofit established in 1896, the fatality rate in homes with sprinklers is 80 percent lower than homes without sprinklers. The National Association of Home Builders counters that the survival rate for homes with operating smoke detectors is nearly 99.5 percent, and thus the added protection addresses a tiny proportion of fire-related deaths. The National Fire Protection Agency endorses the use of sprinklers in homes.

The home builders’ association estimates the cost to install a sprinkler system in a roughly 2,200-square-foot home at $5,573. When factoring in financing costs, brokerage commissions, and other related costs, the builders estimate costs of nearly $6,700 per home - and up to $10,000 per home in rural areas, Toalson said. The fire service industry relies on estimates posted by the U.S. Fire Administration, a federal agency, which sets the cost at $2,200 to $3,300 for the same size home.

HOT: If builders succeed in lobbying for laws that make sprinkler systems an "optional feature," then they'll likely price them artificially high, even for buyers who want them. That's because builders don't want to install sprinklers and view them as a liability. They naturally worry about liability risks if the systems fail in any way, including plumbing leaks causing mold. They also worry about being responsible for systems installed by 3rd party subcontractors.

Toalson argues that the increased cost of a home, especially in recessionary times, is not a trivial matter, even when weighed against the potential loss of life. “Price matters,” he said. “We need the housing industry to recover for this economy to recover. This is not the time to add this expense, especially when the statistics do not justify the costs.”

That argument is bolstered by Steve Orlowski, the code expert hired by the NAHB to address the sprinkler issue. “Because smoke alarms are such an inexpensive life-safety technology and are performing at such high rates,” Orlowski said, “to throw on top of that the requirement for residential sprinklers … we just don’t see that it’s a cost-effective life-safety device to be installed and required in all homes.”

“It’s one single item that can truly help us decrease the number of injuries and fatalities annually.” Allan W. Purdue, International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Chesterfield County, Virginia, Fire Marshal James Dawson disagrees. Dawson, who is chairman of the Virginia Residential Sprinkler Coalition - a group of state code enforcement, fire prevention, and plumbing manufacturers that supports residential sprinklers - counters that that sprinklers “are designed to keep the fire from spreading,” giving people critical time to escape, especially in recently built homes which have construction materials that tend to burn faster than those in older homes. Dawson cited a National Institute of Standards and Technology study, last revised in 2008, that found the amount of time people have to escape from a burning home after they hear a smoke detector alarm has shrunk from 17 minutes in the 1970s to about three minutes.

Orlowski argued that when it comes to safety, “nothing can get you to 100 percent.” In regard to adding sprinkler systems on top of smoke alarms, said Toalson of the Virgina homebuilders’ group, “The statistics just don’t bear out the need for it.” He noted that homes could be required to provide absolute protection from hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and all sorts of disasters that takes lives. “We could do it, but, unfortunately, nobody could afford that home.”

HOT: So why is it that some builders that take pride in their work and push the Quality envelope with homes that are Windstorm Certified, Energy Star compliant, and Green? Coventry Homes is a good Texas example. They serve three market segments with three separate brands but build to the same stringent standards in each case. While we've not talked to them specifically about the fire sprinkler issue, we would expect them to take a different position than the National Association of Builders. Experience shows that it's common for industry associations to promote positions of their largest patrons rather than the membership as a whole.

Perdue, the fire chiefs association board member, countered that the value of individual lives should not get lost in statistics. ”Because we lose lives in ones, twos, and threes, it’s not as big an impact as when an airliner goes down,” he said. Noting the 50 percent decline in deaths since the advent of smoke alarms in the 1970s, he said, “We’ve seen it reach a plateau. We’re looking at what we can do to get that number even lower.”

In Loudoun County, Virginia, Fire Marshal Keith Bower cited a fire on May 25, 2008, in which seven firefighters were injured, one with severe burns, as a case in which a sprinkler system would have brought the blaze under control more quickly and avoided injuries.

The Fight Turns to Richmond 

In Virginia, the Board of Housing and Community Development can implement new rules without approval of the state legislature; lawmakers can, however, create laws that overrule the board. So the loser at the board meeting on Monday could seek a reversal by the General Assembly later this year.

“Unfortunately, I think that’s where it’s going to wind up one way or another,” said Chesterfield County Fire Marshal Dawson.

If the issue ultimately goes to the legislature, Virginia firefighters may find themselves at a disadvantage. The real estate and construction industry has contributed $68 million - about $1.4 million from the Virginia home builders - to state lawmakers and those running for statewide office dating back to 1996, the earliest year for which records were compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks Virginia campaign contributions. That compares with less than $2 million from firefighters. So far in 2009, real estate and construction political contributions total $4.6 million - $64,248 from the home builders’ association - compared with $215,862 from firefighters.

Winning endorsement of the sprinkler standard from the International Code Council was significant even if the fight continues, said Shapiro of the international sprinkler coalition, because previously, fire safety officials had to persuade local or state authorities to exceed national standards to mandate sprinkler systems. The code council endorsement essentially makes the sprinkler requirement the new default standard for residential construction, he claims.

“It essentially changed the burden of proof,” he said, adding that home builders will have to show why they think the national standard is wrong.

Whether state and local governments adopt the change or not, Shapiro said he believed the courts would reward plaintiffs bringing civil suits against builders not in compliance with the ICC national standard for any home built after January 1, 2011, the date the change takes effect nationally.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story misstated the membership and voting requirements of the International Code Council, an organization that promulgates “model” codes for construction and fire safety. The International Code Council now has approximately 50,000 members; however, only about 28,000 of them are eligible to vote on such code changes.

Texas Sprinkler bill puts builders, fire chiefs at odds

Local control, sprinkled with confusion 

By EDITORIAL BOARD, Austin American-Statesman, 06/15/2009
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/2009/06/15/0615sprinklers_edit.html

Raise your hand if you're for local control. OK, put it down. You're not that special. Just about everybody is for local control. But sometimes it can be tough to figure out how to get there. Our case-in-point is another late-in-the-session amendment tacked onto a semi-related bill as the Legislature drew to a close. Heck of a way to make law, isn't it?

Today's cautionary lesson in last-minute lawmaking comes in an amendment by Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, barring cities from requiring fire sprinkler systems in new single- and two-family homes. Otto's bill on this topic died. But at the Capitol, where nothing dies until sine die, he tucked it into a plumber licensing bill now awaiting gubernatorial review.

For his efforts, Otto drew the ire of fire officials and others who say sprinkler systems, though expensive, are cost-effective ways to protect homes. Firefighters want Gov. Rick Perry to veto the bill. City officials, they say, are just the right folks to decide whether to mandate sprinklers.

But home builder associations, concerned about anything that raises home costs (a sprinkler system costs about $1.60 to $2 per square foot), back Otto.

The battle is not simple. For that, we have the International Code Council, which produces the International Residential Code, to thank. Otto says Texas requires cities to adopt the code. Last September, council members voted to update the residential code by making sprinkler systems mandatory beginning in January 2011.

And that, Otto said, is the why of his amendment. His goal is to guarantee local control on sprinklers, which, he said, could be erased by the revised residential code.

Council spokesman Steve Daggers said Otto's version of what happened with the residential code is accurate. But, he noted, cities are free to adopt or not adopt any part of the code. Until the change, the sprinkler section was in an appendix, which meant cities had to specifically adopt it if they wanted in their ordinances.

Now, as part of the code, city officials would have to specifically reject it. That's a significant change, and Otto - who believes the change was a result of lobbying by the sprinkler industry - is correct to point it out.

"In the Legislature, we learn very quickly to 'follow the money' if you want to understand why something happens," Otto wrote in the Houston Chronicle defending his amendment. "I refused to stand by and watch one industry profit at the cost of homeowner choice."

Otto said he'd undo his amendment if the council moves the sprinkler provision back to the appendix of the residential code.

"In the meantime, the Legislature has afforded the ultimate local control to those who it would affect most: the homebuyer," he said of his amendment.

Otto's well-intentioned amendment goes too far by barring cities from requiring sprinkler systems. On this one, we're with those of you who raised your hand for local control.

In this case, the Legislature shouldn't be telling cities what to do. And, when it comes to sprinklers, cities shouldn't be telling people what to do. You want a sprinkler? Buy one. You don't want one? Don't.

We urge Perry to sort this one out -- including the confusion caused by the change in the residential code - and make sure cities retain the right to mandate sprinkler systems.

We don't think cities should do that, but they should have the right to do so.

Bill would limit cities' rules on fire sprinklers

Firefighters, homebuilders try to sway governor.

By Danny Yadron (dyadron@statesman.com),AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF ,Tuesday, June 09, 2009 
http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/06/09/0609sprinklers.html

A late-session provision that would prohibit municipalities from requiring sprinkler systems in some residences has left Gov. Rick Perry stuck between a brigade of Texas fire chiefs and the campaign dollars of local homebuilders.

Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, tacked the amendment on to a plumber licensing bill during the waning days of the session. If Perry signs it, the measure would stop municipalities from requiring sprinkler systems in single- and two-family homes after Jan. 1, 2009, meaning the bill would nullify any ordinances passed this year. Otto originally tried to pass a similar stand-alone bill in early May, but the House never gave it a vote.

"I wanted it to be back to local control," Otto said. "I wanted the homebuyer to have a choice."

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said he supported the addition even though it didn't coincide with the original intent of his legislation.

Homebuilder associations strongly support the change, but it has infuriated fire departments in some larger municipalities. About 20 firefighters called on Perry to veto the bill at a news conference Monday across from the fire-damaged Governor's Mansion.

"We just feel like that is a bit overreaching," said Jim Evans, assistant chief for the Austin Fire Department. "In terms of safety bang for your buck, I don't know if there's anything better" than a sprinkler system.

Evans was acting chief of the department on June 8, 2008, when an arsonist nearly destroyed the mansion with a Molotov cocktail. Perry's home was in the middle of a renovation that included a new sprinkler system. Had the sprinklers been active, the fire would not have gutted the historical residence, Evans said.

Proponents of the legislation said they don't dispute the effectiveness of sprinkler systems, but they take issue with the additional cost.

"We feel like it should be a decision made by homeowners," said Scott Norman, executive director of the Texas Association of Builders. "These are tough times. We don't need to be adding costs onto homes."

Norman estimated that a sprinkler system installed during construction would cost about $2 per square foot. Organizers at the gathering of fire chiefs Monday afternoon put the figure at about $1.60 per square foot.

Though the amendment allows local governments to require builders to offer sprinkler systems to homebuyers for a fee, that's not enough, said Steve Ralls, fire chief of West University Place, a Houston-area city. The city adopted a statute in May that would require that new homes be built with the systems.

"It simply makes no sense for the state Legislature to do this," Ralls said. "We believe our city knows better."

There are no set plans for such a statute in Austin, said Fire Department spokeswoman Michelle DeCrane.

Common Voices, a fire victims group sponsored by the National Fire Sprinkler Association, said about 50 Texas municipalities have such sprinkler laws on the books. [HOT: These statutes would all be nullified by this bill.]

Homebuilders make up a sizable portion of Perry's fundraising haul. The association's political action committee, Homepac, contributed $20,000 to Perry's political action committee between July 1 and Dec. 31, and Bob Perry, CEO of Perry Homes (and no relation to the governor), contributed $25,000 over those months. According to Texans for Public Justice, Bob Perry and his wife were the governor's biggest individual donors in 2006.

The Texas State Association of Fire Fighters PAC contributed $2,000 to Perry's PAC from July 1 through December, according to filings with the Texas Ethics Commission.

As with other pending bills, Perry will reserve judgment until he reviews the legislation in its final form, a spokeswoman for the governor said.

The last day to veto a bill is June 21.

Sprinkler bill puts builders, fire chiefs at odds

By Theodore Kim (tkim@dallasnews.com), The Dallas Morning News, 06/09/2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-sprinklers_09met.ART0.State.Edition1.50e2740.html

Fire chiefs across the state are imploring Gov. Rick Perry to veto a bill that would ban cities from requiring fire sprinkler systems in new or existing homes.

But their advocacy has put them at odds with the Texas Association of Builders, which says the systems are overkill and can add thousands of dollars to a home's price.

Senate Bill 1410, which passed the Texas Legislature in the waning days of the recently ended session, targets the growing ranks of cities nationwide that have mandated such systems to bolster fire safety and limit property damage.

A number of communities in North Texas, including Allen, Celina, Farmers Branch and Plano, have sprinkler requirements for all or some homes, particularly larger ones. Sprinklers are typically required for larger residential buildings, such as apartments.

The Senate bill, which awaits the governor's signature, would prohibit municipalities from adopting any new sprinkler requirements for new or existing homes. The bill is retroactive to Jan. 1.

"The fire sprinkler prohibition ... brings about a major shift in policy with respect to the public safety and home rule authority of local governments," Plano Fire Chief Hugo Esparza said Monday at a news conference with representatives from more than 30 other departments, including Dallas and Fort Worth.

"This bill affects life safety. That's why we're so concerned about it," said Joe Pierce, deputy chief of Dallas Fire-Rescue.

But the Texas Association of Builders, which lobbied for the ban, argues that homebuyers should be able to choose whether they want to install sprinklers.

The group also says that such systems are unnecessary in most cases since new homes must already adhere to strict fire codes, such as being equipped with multiple smoke alarms.

"Sprinklers work to put out the fires, but smoke alarms save lives," said Scott Norman, executive director of the Texas Association of Builders, which represents about 11,000 members statewide. "We have nothing against sprinkler systems. But it should be the consumer's choice."

A spokeswoman for Perry said the governor has yet to act on the bill. He can choose to sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. The deadline for action is June 21.

To underscore his opposition to the sprinkler bill, Esparza made reference to the arson fire at the Texas Governor's Mansion in Austin last June that nearly destroyed the 150-year-old structure.

The mansion, which was undergoing a renovation at the time of the blaze, was slated to have a sprinkler system installed. Working sprinklers could have saved the structure, Esparza said.

"For us, it's a matter of public safety," he said.

The original intent of the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Mike Jackson, R-Pasadena, was to overhaul plumbing licenses. The sprinkler prohibition was later added at the homebuilders' behest.

For his part, Jackson said he agreed with the builders but empathizes with both sides.

"The argument on one side is that it saves lives. The argument of others is that it increases the price of a home," he said. "The Legislature will be back in session in less than two years from now. Maybe we should [revisit the issue]."

• Fire sprinkler mandates are upheld in he latest building code in the face of builder opposition. (10/29/09) 
• Code-change alert: Fire sprinklers in all new homes is an article that includes different viewpoints from many reader comments. Check it out of you want to dig deeper. We added our own comments there. (8/11/09) 
• Benefits of a [uponor] Multipurpose Fire Sprinkler System: 
• • Combines the home’s cold-water plumbing system with the fire sprinkler system which ensures fresh water is available to the sprinklers if it is ever needed in the event of a fire 
  • Eliminates stagnant water problems and the need for check valves and backflow preventers 
  • Sprinklers activate in response to heat, not smoke 
  • Features concealed sprinklers which are hidden behind a plate to better flow with home décor 
  • A cost-effective upgrade that adds value and costs less than 2% of the total price of a home 
  • Conserves water - uses only 10 to 15 gallons of water per minute to control or extinguish a fire compared to 250 gallons a minute from a fire hose 
  • Can potentially save on homeowners’ insurance costs 
  • Uponor’s multipurpose system is backed by a 25-year limited warranty when installed by an Uponor-trained plumbing contractor