Fire Chief

One of the most important votes in fire and firefighter safety will be held next week. Everyone’s participation is needed.

The fire service must participate with full force in the International Code Council’s code-development process. We must take the long-overdue historical measure and revise the 2009 edition of the International Residential Code to require residential fire sprinkler systems in all new homes at the ICC final action hearing in Minneapolis on Sept. 21.

The residential fire sprinkler requirement is on the hearing’s agenda as proposal RB-64. In the ICC process, anyone can debate the merits of a proposed code change, but only the government members (fire and building officials) can vote. It is of utmost importance for the fire service members of the ICC to attend this final action hearing. Every single vote is important; to pass, this recommendation will require support by a two-thirds majority of the voting governmental members present at the meeting.

All of the major fire service organizations in our country made history by pledging their full support for the movement to require residential fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings. In its resolution dated Feb. 14, the International Association of Fire Chiefs declared its support for requiring residential fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings and town homes.

Under the proactive leadership of U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade, the USFA clearly stated its stance on this issue in its USFA Position Paper–Residential Fire Sprinklers:

“It is the position of the U.S. Fire Administration that all citizens should be protected against death, injury, and property loss resulting from fire in their residence. All homes should be equipped with both smoke alarms and automatic fire sprinklers, and all families should have and practice an emergency escape plan. The USFA fully supports all efforts to reduce the tragic toll of fire losses in this nation, including the proposed change to the International Residential Code that would require automatic sprinklers in all new residential construction.”

And during its annual conference in Las Vegas in August, the International Association of Fire Fighters voted in favor of Resolution 16 in support of the residential fire sprinklers. The IAFF recognizes the importance of residential fire sprinkler systems in protecting our communities across the land and our own firefighters.

The National Fire Protection Association’s “Fire Loss in the United States During 2006” reports that “with home fire deaths still accounting for 2,580 fire deaths or 80% of all civilian deaths, fire safety initiatives targeted at the home remain the key to any reductions in the overall fire death toll.” Similarly, the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition claims that “installing both smoke alarms and a fire sprinkler system reduces the risk of death in a fire home by 82% relative to having neither.”

The fire service indeed knows where and on what we should be focusing our efforts. We see the target and we have both the know-how and readily available life-saving technologies, such as smoke alarms and residential fire sprinkler systems. But while 96% of homes have smoke detectors installed in them, only 2% have residential fire sprinkler systems installed.

What is holding us back? Why aren’t there residential fire sprinkler systems in all newly constructed homes? Why don‘t we put all our support behind installing such life-saving technology in all our new houses nationwide?

Installation of the residential fire sprinkler systems in all of the new homes may not have an impact on the fire losses in the more than 100 million existing homes throughout the country. But it would definitely have a long-term positive impact on the more than 1 million new homes constructed every year. And if we don‘t address this problem now, it will be in these new homes where we will be fighting the fires of tomorrow, and where we will be collecting our future fire fatalities and loss statistics.

Change will only come about through mass participation in the established process. By participating in the ICC final action hearing next week in Minneapolis, we in the fire service will have a unique opportunity to take a monumental step in addressing the root of the fire problem in our country, the home fires. To succeed, we must face the opposition with full force. It is time for the fire service to stand up and be accounted for.

The ICC hearing will begin Sept. 20, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The agenda can be downloaded here.