By CHRIS KELLY – Evening Sun Reporter

Local fire chiefs say there is a need for a mandatory sprinkler ordinance in future Adams County townhouse developments.

No one voiced an objection when the chiefs made their comments at a recent meeting of the Hamilton Township supervisors, who are considering such an ordinance.

The ordinance would not affect existing townhouses, said Stephanie Egger, chairwoman of the township board of supervisors, because the homes were built prior to the ordinance.

But, if the ordinance passes, all new townhouses in the township would be built with sprinkler systems in them.

The system might cost between $5,000 to $7,000 per townhouse to the developer, based on previously installed systems, the advocates said.

Abbottstown Fire Chief Dale Reichert said that in the United States, nearly 4,000 people die every year in house fires involving dwellings that do not have sprinkler systems. About 40 die in homes with sprinkler systems. Of those, about half are killed in home explosions.

Adams County Fire Marshal Glenn Herring said that about one or two people in the past five years have died in house fires in Adams County. All townhouses in Adams County are already required to have smoke detectors.

Sprinklers can prevent damage to homes before the fire department arrives at the scene, he said. The sprinklers can put out the fire faster then the department can, because they are activated when flames and smoke are present.

“I have been to places where a fire was put out as soon as it started,” Herring said.
The main reason for sprinkler ordinances is the is the falling number of volunteer firefighters, who numbered 300,000 across the United States in 1975 but only 75,000 in 2005, said Ed Kaplan, fire education specialist at the U.S. Fire Administration/National Fire Academy.

“The number is dropping faster every day,” he said.

Reichert agreed with Kaplan, adding his station used to have almost 40 volunteers and now has about 25.

East Berlin Fire Chief Frank Chronister, Jr. said he thinks the reason is due to people not wanting to set aside any time to volunteer anymore.

“I volunteer about 10 to 12 hours a week,” Chronister said.

Another reason for having the sprinkler ordinance is the large number of local residents who are elderly or infants, two groups most likely to be harmed in a fire.

Kaplan said a sprinkler ordinance for new townhouses was brought to Carroll Valley a few years ago and was approved without objection on the borough council.

But the Pennsylvania Builder’s Association responded by filing a lawsuit against the municipality. According to the PBA’s director of governmental affairs Louis Biacchi, the ordinance was challenged because it may have violated the International Residential Code for Pennsylvania, which states that a sprinkler ordinance cannot be approved unless certain criteria are met.

Carroll Valley met the criteria by having narrow and winding roads, Biacchi said.

If the ordinance passes in Hamilton Township, Biacchi said it is likely the PBA will be there to challenge it.

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