By Paul Eakins – Press-Telegram

LONG BEACH – A City Council panel may have found a happy medium Tuesday that balances fire prevention with the financial hit that property owners say they could face if they are required to install fire sprinklers in multi-unit residential buildings.

In its second meeting in as many months to discuss proposed fire sprinkler requirements, the three-member Economic Development and Finance Committee unanimously supported a new proposal by Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, who is the committee’s chair.

“I know that the No. 1 objective for our fire department is to keep us all safe in our homes and in our buildings, and the only way really to do that is through the use of fire sprinklers,” Gabelich said. “But we also recognize that there’s a great financial hardship related to that.”

The original proposed fire code changes would require all existing multi-family residential buildings, hotels and motels that have 50 or more units to be retrofitted with fire sprinkler systems within five years.

Multi-family buildings with fewer than 50 units, as well as single-family dwellings and duplexes, would have to install sprinklers when additions of certain sizes are added to the structures. Also, existing high-rise buildings (those over 75 feet) would have to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers within 10 years.

However, Gabelich proposed that high-rises and multi-family residential buildings with 50 or more units be given an alternative option, such as to put in place a fire education and preparedness program.

Gabelich said the program should include requiring fire extinguishers in every unit, an emergency evacuation plan, semi-annual emergency preparedness and evacuation drills, and semi-annual inspections of smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.

The council had requested fire safety improvements last year following the Paradise Gardens apartment fire on Dec. 8, 2006, that killed two people and displaced 256 residents. The council’s resolve was reinforced on March 28, 2007, when an 18th-floor fire at the Galaxy Towers condominiums on Ocean Boulevard caused one man’s death.

In June, the council approved five new fire code recommendations, which included fire sprinkler requirements for most new multi-family and single-family residences, as well as new commercial, industrial and non-residential buildings. However, the recommended fire sprinkler requirements for existing buildings were sent to committee for further discussion.

Under Gabelich’s proposal, LBFD officials are to work with a group of homeowners associations and other stakeholders to flesh out the alternative plan, then return to the committee in eight weeks. Officials also are to create a fee structure for the city to recover the costs of inspections and other services.

The plan also would have some sort of penalty for non-compliance, but not the requirement of installing fire sprinklers, which Gabelich had first suggested. That idea met a chorus of opposition from the public and from Councilman Gary DeLong.

Even with the changes, DeLong said he is still concerned about the costs that homeowners and property owners may have to pay for inspections.

The committee’s other member, Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, said the plan is “a good start,” a sentiment that was echoed by many people in the small crowd that again had turned out to oppose the original fire sprinkler plan.

“I think your recommendation is a good one, providing the cost doesn’t go sky high,” said Don Peasley, vice-chairman of the homeowners association for the Versailles Condominiums on Ocean Boulevard near Bluff Park.

Marian Miller, president of the Galaxy Towers Homeowners Association, said the alternative compliance plan is a better solution because fire sprinklers are too expensive.

“We were very distressed because when we found out really what the cost was, we knew we could not afford it as individuals,” Miller said.

According to an LBFD study, 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 building. Retrofitting a three-story, 12-unit apartment building with sprinklers would cost $48,000 to $60,000.

To read the full article click here.