There has been a push in Kansas. I have looked at several system retrofits for houses that have been converted to group homes. The same is going on for large houses that are rented by the room to students. New group homes are all (-by "all" I mean "all the ones I have seen") sprinkled to full 13.
Matt Grisé PE*, LEED AP Sales Engineer Alliance Fire Protection *Licensed in KS & MO 913.888.0647 ph 913.888.0618 f 913.927.0222 cell www. AFPsprink.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of George Church Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 1:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Assisted Living Facility I saw nothing in the grand jury report to indicate the system wasn't installed or maintained properly, and the applicable code was residential, as if a SFD. The grand jury urged looking at this as a lesson to NOT be repeated in the approx. 7,000 other homes like this, most with less FP than this one. When you have 9 residents incapable of self-egress and only two staff members, combustible construction and the draft stopping missing, it became untenable very quickly. The real crime is that I'll bet dollars to donuts we have over 100,000 and maybe 250,000 of these homes across the USA and have we taken steps to prevent it from repeating itself? I like to think if there was a state-wide or nationwide push to sprinkler these group homes, I'd have heard about it. I have participated in the NFPA code development process and as frustrating and awkward as some of it is, it is because it has to be to follow protocol precisely and make sure the code is a balanced representation of stakeholders needs. It shouldn't surprise anyone that I believe strongly in the value of automatic fire sprinklers, sleep soundly under them every night, and my wife says I've talked about sprinklers in my sleep. Far be it from me to be the one to pierce an NFPA claim extolling the virtues of the systems MY industry installs and maintains. I'm overboard in telling people about the value of sprinklers, and in protecting the integrity of our industry that would cause it harm. Has anyone seen a push to add sprinklers in group homes to prevent a repeat of this tragedy? If it had been students in NJ, there'd be action as in Seton Hall- are these poor souls invisible? Administrators need to be held accountable for not preventing foreseeable tragedy, if we don't, there's no impetus to change anything- and I'm afraid that's what has happened. Someone want to pick this up and run with it? George Church -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Autry, David Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 12:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Assisted Living Facility "I believe it was four dead in a new, sprinklered group home." Does this not count as a multiple loss fire in a sprinklered building? I been told in many seminars (one this week) that NFPA has record of such. I've told many people this "fact", am I lying to them? David Autry Plans Examiner Nebraska State Fire Marshal's Office 246 S. 14th Street Lincoln, NE 68508 402-471-9659 402-471-3118 fax www.sfm.ne.gov ** Note new email address: [email protected] _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
