State Board to Discuss Requiring Sprinkler Systems in Homes

State fire officials favor the requirement, saying the sprinklers are effective fire-fighting devices, especially valuable in homes that are far from fire stations.

The

National building codes and the National Fire Protection Association both call for home sprinklers.

A subcommittee of the state Building Code Review Board met this summer on the issue and struck a compromise.

Wayne Richardson, Bedford's building code inspector and health officer and subcommittee chair, said the panel is recommending the systems not be mandatory in New Hampshire. But the panel is urging that details of home sprinklers be included in an attachment to the updated building code so installation standards will be in place.

The meeting today will lead to a series of public hearings. Should the review board eventually require the sprinklers, it would take an act of the Legislature to make the change permanent. Otherwise, it would phase out in two years, board chair Donald Bliss said.

"It's kind of a safety valve, to make sure we stay on track with what's appropriate for the state," he said.

Towns are free to adopt sprinkler requirements on their own, and several in New Hampshire already have, Fire Marshal William Degnan said.

He said the systems are different from those in schools and commercial buildings. They are fitted to wall and only go off in the area of a fire. A sprinkler would cover a room roughly 12-by-12, Degnan said, and would discharge between 18 and 35 gallons a minute. A fire hose, by comparison, sends out 150 to 200 gallons a minute.

He said the sprinklers can be installed for about $1.60 per square foot of housing space.

"Firefighters don't put a dollar value on a life," Degnan said. "There's documentation that they do work and the whole purpose for this is saving lives."

Kendall Buck, executive director of the state Homebuilders and Remodelers Association, said no one argues sprinklers are effective, but it should not be mandated. Homes that are on a well-water system would need to have a water storage unit the size of an oil tank, he said.

A better solution to home fires might be to find a way to insure that smoke alarms are functioning properly, he said.

From 2001 to 2004, only 12 percent of fatal fires occurred in buildings that had smoke alarms operating, he said.

"No one disputes that sprinklers do a wonderful job of cutting down fires and doing what they are intended to do. But the issue is associated costs, and in terms of the number of lives lost, data does not support that this should be a mandate across the board," Buck said.