Long Beach Press-Telegram

Residents of older high rises whose safety was the concern of a Long Beach City Council committee can breathe a sigh of relief, but not for the reason you might think. They didn’t seem to want the council’s help.

For good reason. The council’s Economic Development and Finance Committee had been considering whether or not to impose a requirement to install sprinkler systems that would protect residents in a fire.

The response they kept getting was, No, thanks, especially from residents of high rises, which would be the most expensive to retrofit. The cost for a 100-unit building could easily run $600,000, and for smaller buildings $3 to $5 a square foot.

Deaths from fire in high rises are rare, but it happens. On March 28 last year, fire in an apartment on the 18th floor of the Galaxy Towers on Ocean Boulevard resulted in one man’s death, and fire in the Paradise Gardens apartment building Dec. 28, 2006, killed two people.

The City Council in June approved changes in the building code that would require sprinklers in most new residential and commercial buildings, but referred the question of retrofitting older buildings to the committee.

Faced with opposition from almost everyone but firefighters, Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, committee chair, came up with an alternative Tuesday for existing high rises and other buildings with 50 or more units. Instead of sprinklers, owners could provide fire extinguishers in every apartment, an emergency evacuation plan, semi-annual emergency drills and semi-annual inspections of smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

Even that might be overdoing it with the inspections, but otherwise it is much smarter than mandating costly retrofitting. The three-member committee, which includes Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga and Councilman Gary DeLong, gave the plan unanimous approval. Next, the Fire Department will meet with homeowner groups to work out the details. Then the full council will decide on what to do about protecting their constituents from fire.

But this time they’ll also consider what their constituents say they can afford.

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