By Jason Flanagan – Baltimore Examiner
Firefighters from throughout the metropolitan region converged in Anne Arundel to support legislation requiring sprinklers installed in houses there, a bill home builders have openly opposed.
“We are urging Anne Arundel to be the ninth county to join the growing numbers,” said John Bender, of the Aberdeen Fire Department, who joined members of fire departments from Carroll, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, where local governments have sprinkler ordinances.
“The City of Aberdeen has had a sprinkler ordinance in place since 2006, and it has saved lives.”
The Anne Arundel bill is simple: All new houses must adhere to new building standards that require sprinklers systems to be installed, even in houses that run on well water.
The county eventually will have to mandate sprinklers when the code changes become official in 2010.
Council Chairwoman Cathy Vitale, R-Severna Park, was surprised by the fire officials’ outpouring of support for the bill she sponsored at the recent council meeting.
“I didn’t ask to have any support except the state fire marshal, but to have firefighters from out of the county in support of the legislation, I was taken aback,” said Vitale, whose husband works for the county fire department.
“I have not seen such statewide support for a piece of our legislation.”
But home builders say sprinklers are unnecessary if proper smoke detectors are installed and could be costly if not properly maintained.
“It’s tough to speak against firefighters, and that’s not what this is about,” said Eric DeVito, president of the Anne Arundel Home Builders Association. “[Home builders are] going to pay a cost that customers do not want to pay.”
But the Anne Arundel Fire Department disagrees.
“Even functioning smoke alarms have been found to be insufficient in waking occupants of homes,” county Fire Chief John Ray said. “We need a more potent weapon to combat this ever-present threat to our community.”
And firefighters from across the region agree, saying their jurisdictions haven’t seen a fatality in a house with sprinklers.
“Carroll County has had [a sprinkler ordinance] since May 2006, and we find it to be a good one,” said Doug Alexander, of the Mount Airy Fire Department.
“There are ways to make sprinklers cost-effective.”
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Tom Wieczorek
Tom Wieczorek December 16, 2008 at 12:59 pm
“But home builders say sprinklers are unnecessary if proper smoke detectors are installed and could be costly if not properly maintained.” This is an interesting statement by the homebuilders. How many times do you read about fatal or serious injury housefires that also mention batteries had been removed from smoke detectors or that smoke detectors were not working? There is a maintenance issue with smoke detectors just as there is with sprinklers. The key is inspection and enforcement but there has to be a system in place before that is possible.
In these days of “green building”, wouldn’t it make better sense to omit the undergrounds sprinkler system (that requires far more maintenance and work) to support something that saves not just grass and tree life but also human?