The December issue of Fire Sprinkler Initiative Update, our monthly e-newsletter, has hit the streets. (Read the issue or subscribe today - it’s easy and free!)
In this issue, we highlight a new two-part podcast that features Jamie Lyons, senior engineer at Newport Partners in Maryland and author of the Integration of Residential Sprinklers with Water Supply Systems. Jamie talks about how the research was conducted and the key findings from the report.
We also talk about a new USFA campaign to urge homeowners to install smoke alarms and residential sprinklers, and offer up a video demonstration of how to install and maintain smoke alarms.
And on our blog, NFPA’s Maria Figueroa takes on the facts about insurance and home fire sprinklers — and how amending model safety codes by removing sprinkler requirements could have a negative impact on your wallet.
Several months after repealing an ordinance requiring businesses to install fire sprinklers, the City Council approved an incentive package to encourage businesses to add the sprinklers on their own.
The incentives will come in the form of adjustments to permit fee costs for the building and fire departments, and a limited waiver on city taxes. The breaks should not exceed $3,000 in taxes or $30,000 total incentives.
The goal is to help business owners bring their buildings into compliance with National Fire Protection Association standards.
People will have to apply to the building department to receive the money. The building and fire departments will review the applications.
On Monday night, the City Council also approved a bid for the installation of a sprinkler and alarm system in the downtown fire station.
The council voted unanimously to accept a $50,008 bid from BCI Integrated Solutions for a combined sprinkler and alarm system for Fire Station No. 2. The bid from BCI was not the lowest bid, but fire Chief Keith Williams said the firm won because it was the only company to submit all necessary materials with its application.
Fire officials in Fort Collins are reminding area residents to check their fire alarm systems after three major fires broke out over the weekend, but ended with no injuries.
Poudre Fire Authority, which serves the greater Fort Collins area, responded to three structure fires, the first coming Friday afternoon.
Two of the blazes were either discovered or put out by fire prevention systems, a reminder to residents to check their alarm systems, the authority said.
The authority responded to a pair of two-alarm fires and a smaller one-alarm blaze.
The first fire, called into the fire service at 1:23 p.m. on Friday, involved a electrical fire in the attic of a home at 129 N. Sherwood St. in Fort Collins.
That fire was put out quickly with minimal damage to the structure, a release from the fire authority said.
On Saturday morning, fire sprinklers at a north Fort Collins home put out a fire that began in a dining room.
The sprinklers put out the blaze at 887 Blue Heron Lane just as fire crews were going into the
December 10, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Hundreds of Chicago firefighters were needed to put out a deadly high-rise fire early Thursday morning.
Flames shot out of the condo building at 260 East Chestnut in the Streeterville neighborhood. More than 200 residents ran out into the bitter cold after the fire broke out shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday.
Investigators say the fire started on the 36th floor in the unit of the woman who died, 84-year-old Beata Bihl.
“She was found in the front of the apartment toward the door, trying to make an escape,” said Commissioner John Brooks of the Chicago fire department
The American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) announces the 2010 schedule for both its traditional Beginning Fire Sprinkler System Planning School as well as its new System Layout School for Residential One- & Two-Family Dwellings.
Four 2010 Beginning Fire Sprinkler System Planning Schools have been scheduled for February 22 - March 5, April 19-30, July 12-23, and October 11-22; in addition, three sessions of AFSA’s new System Layout School for Residential One- & Two-Family Dwellings will be held March 22-26, June 21-25, and August 23-27, 2010.
Beginning Fire Sprinkler System Planning School
Designed to train a beginner to be productive immediately upon returning to work, AFSA’s Beginning Fire Sprinkler System Planning School teaches the essential elements of system layout in accordance with NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems. It is geared toward those with no experience or those who need assistance with design.
When I learned in late October that the International Code Council (ICC) voted at its annual conference in Baltimore to keep residential sprinklers on the book despite strong opposition from the National Association of Home Builders, I could not help but think what the leaders of the home builders group were thinking. The conversation inside their cigar-smoke-filled offices at the home builders group might have gone something like this: “Mr. Moneybags, we have bad news from Baltimore. The International Code Council voted 7-4 to keep residential sprinklers in the International Residential Code. This takes effect on Jan. 1, 2011, and requires sprinkler systems in new single-family homes after this date.”
“What? How could this happen, Daddy Warbucks? You know how much money we’ve paid to fight this. We don’t want residential sprinklers in the new building code for 2012. This is going to cut into our profits, deter people from building homes and make the cost of homes out of reach for first-time buyers.”
“But Mr. Moneybags, there was stiff opposition from the fire service. They argued that residential sprinklers will save lives; hold down the loss on fire and might even save firefighters’ lives. They had statistics that showed that about 79% of all people who die in fires die in their homes. The firefighters also have data that about 77% of all structure fires last year occurred in homes. Mr. Moneybags, it gets worse. Statistics demonstrate that there has never been any multiple loss of life in a fully sprinklered building. Property losses are 85% less in homes with fire sprinklers compared to those without sprinklers. The combination of automatic sprinklers and early-warning systems in all buildings and residences could reduce overall injuries, loss of life and property damage by at least 50%.”
