By Robert Behre – The Post and Courier

Normally, it wouldn’t be considered a good thing to have several fire trucks, fire marshals and code inspectors parked in your driveway.

But in the case of the new 3,500-square-foot home under construction on Rice Pond Road in West Ashley, looks can deceive.

That’s because the gathering was planned by businessman Charles Stewart.

As head of Homesafe Fire Protection, Stewart wants to make a point, to educate Charleston officials and others about the first residential sprinkler system he has installed in the city.

“I really believe in another six to eight years, you’re not going to be able to buy a house without it,” he says.

What makes this system unique is not the technology, which has been around for years. Instead, it’s the price, about $2 per square foot, or about $7,000 in this home.

Unlike other systems that required a separate set of pipes and a backflow preventer and other costly add-ons, this system can be hooked up to a home’s regular plumbing, and that lowers the cost.

Code requires sprinkler systems for large apartment buildings and condominiums but not for single-family homes and duplexes.

Asked about the percentage of Charleston single-family homes that currently have a sprinkler system,

Charleston Chief Building Official Thomas Scholtens says it’s “very, very, very low.”

Admittedly, Stewart has a financial interest in promoting the new technology, but he also feels he has a higher calling.

Four out of every five fire deaths occur in homes, and they claimed the lives of 2,580 people in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stewart notes a 1997 Scottsdale, Ariz., study found that 90 percent of the time, only one or two sprinkler heads were needed to put out a fire. They used about 300 gallons of water, compared with about 3,000 gallons of water that are sprayed inside a home if the Fire Department arrives.

The average damage from a home fire with a sprinkler system was less than $2,000, compared with $17,067 in homes without.

Scholtens notes that sprinkler systems can buy critical time to get family members out and will slow one of the greatest fire hazards: Toxic air caused when heat cooks out poisonous gases from a home’s building material.

“Well before you burn, you’re dead on the floor because of the gases,” he says.

Some might fear a system will go off accidentally, soaking furniture, carpets and other stuff, but Stewart notes that the sprinkler head’s cover doesn’t detach until it reaches a temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit, and it doesn’t begin to spray until it reaches 155 degrees.

Stewart walked around the framed home with almost two dozen firefighters, code inspectors and other officials to show off the loops of piping leading to more than a dozen sprinkler heads.

Last year’s meeting of national building code officials in Minneapolis voted to require sprinkler systems in new homes, but Scholtens notes it will take years before that code takes effect, and some interests are expected to fight it by arguing that it would make new homes too expensive.

That’s why Stewart hopes to convince people that these systems are a good idea, even if they’re not required by law. As the cost drops, that will be an easier sell.

To read the full article click here.