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Two renovation projects, which will include the installation of sprinkler systems in residence halls, are slated for approval at the board of trustees meeting on Friday.
The projects will cost a total of $4.7 million.

The installation of sprinkler systems in Lincoln Hall, among other renovations, is projected to cost $3.4 million. The installation of sprinkler systems in Thomas Hall is projected to cost $1.3 million, said Mark Hudson, director of university housing and dining services.

Room and board fees paid by students living in the residence halls provided all funding for the sprinkler systems, Hudson said.

State legislation requires that all residence halls on a college campus feature sprinkler systems within the next three years. Currently, Lincoln, Thomas, Ford, McKinney and Weller are without sprinklers.

According to he Fire Sprinkler Act, which passed in Illinois in 2005, “Fire sprinkler systems are required in the dormitories of all post-secondary educational institutions by 2013. This includes current structures as well as newly constructed dormitories.”

Hudson said plans for completing the installation of sprinkler systems in all residence halls on campus by the government-mandated deadline are on schedule.

“Following the installation of sprinklers in Lincoln Hall this summer, we’ll be over 75 percent finished with the project,” Hudson said.

Eastern Safety Officer Gary Hanebrink said work on the Lincoln and Thomas projects is expected to begin shortly after graduation in May, and should be completed in August before the fall 2010 semester.

“Lincoln and Thomas will be the sixth and seventh buildings on campus to be retrofitted with sprinklers and fire alarm systems,” Hanebrink said.

Taylor Hall is to be retrofitted with sprinkler and fire alarm systems in summer 2011. The Triad complex

Shelbyville has adopted the 2009 International Building Codes, but specifically exempted itself from the section of that code which would require fire protection sprinkler systems on new one-family and two-family homes.

Bedford County is on track to do exactly the same, based on a recommendation from Bedford County Planning Commission which will be considered next month by Bedford County Board of Commissioners.

Proponents say that residential sprinkler systems can save lives, and that communities which have required them for a long time, like Scottsdale, Ariz., and Prince George’s County, Md., have seen benefits in terms of lives and property saved.

Opponents say that they would unduly increase the cost of buying a new home, especially in rural areas where there’s not sufficient water pressure to run the systems directly from the water main, meaning a tank and pump must be installed.

Ed Antosh of the county’s codes enforcement office told planners last month that a sprinkler system, plus a tank, pump and backflow preventer and all of the assorted paperwork and labor, could add $6,000 to the cost of a home.

Wayne Waggoner of the Tennessee Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association disputes that figure, saying that in Tennessee, the cost of adding residential sprinkler systems ranges from 90 cents to $1.25 per square foot, considerably less than the national average of $1.61 per square foot.

“I don’t know a home in the State of Tennessee that it’s added $6,000 to,” said Waggoner.

“It’s not cost-prohibitive to put a tank and a pump in,” said Waggoner, estimating the cost of a tank and pump at between $900 and $1,200.

Ed Orcutt says barns and other agricultural buildings don’t need fire sprinkler systems, the same claim a Woodland couple has made battling Cowlitz County about reassembling a historic barn on their property.

Orcutt, R-Kalama, introduced a bill (HB 2975) last week that bans county or state sprinkler requirements for agricultural buildings. He said it’s not connected to Rena and Kent Bellika’s barn in rural Woodland. Instead, Orcutt was contacted about a proposed new barn near Woodland that might not go up if the owners have to meet sprinkler standards. The new barn was scheduled to be 3,600 square feet and anything more than 3,500 square feet requires a sprinkler system. Orcutt said the requirement adds too many costs to the project.

“I want to keep our farmers farming and not put them out of business,” he said. “If we could get someone to build a barn this year I’d certainly like to see that happen and I know our construction folks could sure use the business.”

The Bellikas ran into a similar problem with their 1920 barn which county officials wanted brought up to modern day standards. One of the main stumbling blocks was a sprinkler system that Rena Bellika said was too expensive and unnecessary in a historic barn.

Bellika hasn’t talked to Orcutt about his bill but said she’d be in favor of having the regulations for agricultural buildings eased. It’s unclear if Orcutt’s bill would help the Bellikas because their barn and building permit already are under way.

Cowlitz County Commissioner Axel Swanson hadn’t read the proposed legislation but said on its face it sounds like something he’d support to ease conflicts like the one the Rena Bellika brought to commissioners earlier this month.

Swanson organized a meeting with the Bellikas and county Building and Planning Department last week and said afterward that they believe they’ve found ways to meet most of the requirements without undue burdens.

Orcutt’s bill, co-sponsored by five lawmakers including Vancouver Democrat Deb Wallace, has been referred to the Local Government & Housing Committee for review.

At noon on Sunday, Jan. 10, the Redmond Fire Department responded to a call in an apartment building in the 18600 block of Redmond

Alexandria firefighters responded to 212 calls last year

Investigators look at the destroyed portion of the Days Inn in Hoover, Ala., on Monday Jan. 18, 2009. Four college students were killed in the fire Saturday night. The wooden structure built in the early 1960s had not been retrofitted with sprinklers. (The Birmingham News/ Mark Almond)A deadly fire at a 45-year-old Hoover hotel a week ago shows the need for older hotels to be retro