Press-Telegram

LONG BEACH – Fire Department officials say requiring fire sprinklers in multifamily housing will make residents safer, but some property owners say retrofitting older buildings will be too costly.

The City Council’s Economic Development and Finance Committee will consider the proposed fire code changes for a second time Tuesday. The committee first discussed the proposal in April, but such a large crowd of opponents showed up that the committee members didn’t have time to finish the matter.

Tuesday’s committee meeting to finish out the discussion and possibly send a recommendation to the full council begins at 2 p.m. at City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.

The proposed fire code changes would require:

All existing multifamily residential buildings, hotels and motels that have 50 or more units to be retrofitted with fire sprinkler systems within five years.

Buildings that have fewer than 50 units to be retrofitted with fire sprinkler systems only when an addition is built on to the structure that is greater than 5,000 square feet or 25 percent of the existing square footage, or when the cost of a building alteration or renovation over three years is at least 25 percent of the cost of replacing the building.

The installation of fire sprinklers in existing single-family dwellings and duplexes when additions of more than 4,000 square feet or more than two stories are made.

All existing high-rise buildings (over 75feet) to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers within 10 years.
In April, Deputy Chief Mike Garcia, the city’s fire marshal, told the committee that with more families living in multiunit buildings that aren’t separated the way houses are, the risk of a fire spreading to neighbors’ homes is much greater.

“These multifamily complexes and high-rise homes don’t afford the same level of safety given by having a defensible space between them,” Garcia said. “This, along with longer exiting and access, makes these buildings more dangerous to those living within them.”

The city began discussing new fire codes after the Dec. 8, 2006, Paradise Gardens apartment fire in North Long Beach killed two people and displaced 256 residents. Then, on March 24, 2007, a fire damaged the Galaxy Towers condominiums on Ocean Boulevard, resulting in one fatality.

In June, the council approved five new fire code recommendations, which included fire sprinkler requirements for most new multifamily and single-family residences, as well as new commercial, industrial and non-residential buildings. However, the Fire Department’s remaining recommendations for existing buildings were sent to the Economic Development and Finance Committee for further discussion because of the potential costs involved in installing fire sprinklers.

Based on Fire Department studies, the estimated cost of putting fire sprinkler systems in existing buildings is $3 to $4 per square foot for a single-family home or duplex, $4 to $5 per square foot for a multi-family residence, and $5 to $6 per square foot for a high-rise. Retrofitting a three-story, 12-unit apartment building with sprinklers would cost $48,000 to $60,000, according to fire officials.

Nancy Ahlswede, executive director of the Apartment Association, California Southern Cities, said in April that the cost could be even more. She said two Apartment Association members had gotten estimates on retrofitting their properties and had found that installing sprinklers in an eight-unit building would cost $10,000 per unit, while a high-rise retrofit would be

$5 million.

“We are talking about unbelievable amounts of money,” Ahlswede said. “I’m not saying you can put a dollar value on a life, but we are talking about a lot of money.”

But Garcia said: “Is the level of safety provided by the sprinkler systems worthy of the cost and the disruptions to the occupants?

“Personally, witnessing the tragedies of fire, I tend to believe they are.”

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