Insurance group wants sprinkler law Posted: Sunday, February 6, 2011 4:23 pm BY MARK WALTERS Times Staff Writer | The American Insurance Association announced that it is in opposition to Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1001 and House Bill 1809, which involves legislation amending the state construction code. Pennsylvania's newly-passed Uniform Construction Code, which is part of the International Residential Code, states that automatic sprinkler systems must be installed into newly-built homes. The code was made effective Jan. 1, 2011. While some legislators want to see the sprinkler section of the code repealed or changed, firefighters insist that removing sprinklers from the code would be of detrimental costs to the safety of themselves as well as residents of the newly-errected houses. According to a release e-mailed to the Times last week, the AIA opposes the local option alternative that would allow municipalities to choose whether or not sprinklers should be installed into houses. "A patchwork quilt approach to building codes will provide an uneven construction code landscape," the three-page statement read. "The uniformity of the construction code ensures that all Pennsylvania residents will be treated equally and can rely on the same protections by the code." According to the National Fire Protection Association, there have been no multiple fatalities in homes where there is an operational sprinkler system. The death rate of firefighters in homes with sprinklers is 80 percent less than in homes without sprinklers. Still, local legislators oppose sprinklers in the code. They feel it is taking away freedoms from people seeking the American dream of building a new home by making homes unaffordable. "This is gonna slow down the building industry," said state Rep. Dan Moul, R-91. "I don't want to see one fireman get hurt, but what extents do we go to? Are we willing to throw our economy that much more into the hoper?" Moul, a former builder, has said that adding sprinklers to residential homes would increase the cost of the house by $12,000-$20,000. But according to data supplied by George Church, president of Rowe Sprinkler Systems, Inc. in Middleburg, Pa., the average cost of sprinklers is $1.61 per square foot. Church said his company has installed about $2.5 million in sprinklers in the Gettysburg area over the past five years, including the Gateway Gettysburg complex, retrofitting Green Acres Nursing Home, various hotels and Keystone Fireworks on U.S. Business 15. Church claimed his company has installed sprinklers for as low as $1,100 for a small townhouse and $3,000 for a 2,500 square foot home. He said his only quote for $10,000 was for a 9,500 square foot house. "If a home is not on public water, the stored water tank and pump is $1,500 to the builder, with an additional $150 to run wire back to a breaker in the electrical panel," Church said in his e-mailed statement to the Times last week. State Rep. Will Tallman, R-193, a volunteer firefighter for the Hampton Fire Company in New Oxford, said that he would like to see a bill that would allow for legislative oversight of the code, so lawmakers could have more of a say in what can be put into and taken out of the code before its approval every three years. But the AIA insists that "excluding one code requirement can result in unintended and undesirable consequences." "Section one may be written a certain way because of the way it relates to provisions of sections two and three. If section two is removed, the provisions of section one may be inadequate or inapplicable "It's critical that the entire IRC, including the sprinkler provisions, be adopted as a whole." Mark Walters may be reached at [email protected]. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
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