Proposed Mandatory Fire Sprinklers
Should Virginia adopt the new International Code Council's (ICC) recommendation to install fire sprinklers in every new home? That was the topic of discussion this week in Richmond. Builders and fire fighters gathered in large numbers to speak passionately to this topic from both sides of the isle. Both came with supporting data that made the trip worthwhile.
The Board of Housing and Community Development (BHCD) in Richmond, with support from The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), The Northern Virginia Building Industry Association (NVBIA), The Home Builders Association of Virginia (HBAV), and other stakeholder groups have adopted the International Code Council (ICC) Family of Codes because of the "scientific" and "balanced" approach of their ICC code making process.
Marketing agendas of product manufactures and policy agendas of stakeholder groups are traditionally discounted in favor of a fair and balanced code built on the ultimate safety, energy efficiency and affordability of the final product.
That fairness and balance in the ICC code-making process was tossed aside in Minneapolis last year at the ICC's final action hearings. On the Saturday and Sunday of the final action hearings, there was a sudden - and controversial - arrival of 900 fire officials that were eligible to vote at the International Code Council's final action hearings.
That swelled the number of fire sprinkler proponents far beyond traditional attendance numbers, and the measure to mandate the installation of fire sprinklers in all new homes was approved by a vote of 1,283 to 470 on Sunday morning, leaving many to speculate that the sprinkler industry "sponsored" the vote.
About 1,200 voting devices were turned in immediately after the residential fire sprinkler mandate was approved, suggesting that most of the proponents left immediately after the vote was taken.
"We welcome the insight and experience that fire officials bring to the code development process because our model codes are focused on life safety issues," said James Anderson, chair of the NAHB Construction, Codes and Standards Committee. "However, it seems clear that these particular fire officials were focused on one issue only - residential fire sprinkler mandates - without any benefit of perspective regarding how such mandates jibe with the hundreds of other code proposals considered at this hearing.
The fact is, today's better built homes are saving lives. From 1979-2003 the death rate per million persons from house fires dropped 58 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. That trend will continue as more new housing stock is built, stronger building codes are enacted and especially as smoke alarm maintenance by homeowners improves.
Statistics from the Virginia Fire Incident Reporting System show that 76.8 percent of all fires in Virginia from 2000 through 2008 either did not spread or were confined to an object or a room and contained. Often when sprinklers detect smoke they set off every sprinkler in the house, not just in the room where the fire is occurring.
Sprinkler proponents claim the cost of home insurance decreases when you install fire sprinklers. It's true that some states offer insurance credits for having fire sprinklers in the home. Using a conservative sprinkler cost estimate of $1.50 per square foot in a 2,300-square-foot home with an annual property insurance rate of $1,000, it would take approximately 35 years for a 10 percent credit to pay for the system.
Insurance agents in the area say credits rarely are given above 3.5 percent. Throw in maintenance costs and it would take even longer for the credit to pay its due for the system.
However, that does not offset the increased costs charged for potential water damage and flooding. In many cases sprinklers go off in areas of the home where fire is not occurring, causing more claims for water damage than fire damage. Virginia insurance agents say this drives the cost of insurance higher for people who have sprinkler systems.
Annual sprinkler installation costs will greatly exceed property losses nationwide and in any jurisdiction where they are mandated. For example, had this mandate been in place in 2005 the installation cost to builders and homeowners would have been almost $10.2 billion based on an average square-foot home with a cost of $2.66 per square foot.
The NFPA reported that the total home property loss - new and existing homes - due to fire in 2005 was less than $5.8 billion. The installation cost would have been nearly double the loss.
The costs might not make sense, however, when it comes to saving lives consider this: smoke alarms potentially save more lives than sprinklers. A 2006 study by the U.S. Fire Association (USFA) on the presence of working smoke alarms in residential fires from 2001-2004 showed that 88 percent of the fatal fires in single-family homes occurred where there were no working smoke alarms.
USFA and NFPA data continue to show that the vast majority of home fire fatalities occur when there are no operational smoke alarms. The most recent NFPA report on smoke alarms estimates that more than 890 lives could be saved annually if every home had a working smoke alarm. From 2000-2004, 65 percent of the fire fatalities reported occurred in homes where smoke alarms were not present or were present and did not operate.
A hard-wired, interconnected smoke alarm system installed through the whole house costs about $50 per alarm. A vast disconnect from the estimated cost of $5,850 for a sprinkler system in a 2,200 square foot home.
In the Richmond area, where the BHCD convenes, about 710 families lose the ability to qualify for a new home mortgage with each $1,000 increase in the price of a new home. Mandating fire sprinklers would keep more than 4,100 families from being able to buy affordable housing in the Richmond area alone.
The negative impacts for Virginians are many. Consideration for affordability, regular maintenance, freezing pipes and water basins, accidental discharges, and property damage must all be taken into account.
Owners will have to calculate how the system will work if power goes out, or if the well's water level is low enough to cause pressure problems. Extra water tanks, pumps and generators could be purchased to help with pressure and system backup, but that adds more cost to the system - cost many owners in rural Virginia cannot afford.
As an executive member of NVBIA, I, and others in the industry brought our voices to Richmond this Monday to convince the BHCD to keep fire sprinklers as an option, not a mandate.
After hearing arguments from both sides I am pleased to report that on a 9-2 vote, later in the afternoon, the Board of Housing and Community Development - Codes and Standards Committee voted to reaffirm the earlier action to make fire sprinklers an OPTION.
In the end, I believe an educated homeowner is best served in making the critical decision. In spite of the expressed passion for saving lives, it was interesting that only one firefighter present at the meeting had personally exercised the option to have a sprinkler system installed in his home.
If you're not sure who is on your side in the fight to save lives while keeping homes affordable, remember, "Just Ask a Builder."
For more information about statewide building code and other building legislation e-mail joel@goldenrulebuilders.com or write to "Ask a Builder" at P.O. box 294, Catlett, VA 20119
Barkman is president of the Fauquier Chapter of The Northern Virginia Building Industry Association.
Read Joel's column weekly in the
3409 Catlett Road, Catlett, Virginia 20119