Sam_Cleveland

As an architect, I have designed many commercial and residential projects. I appreciate the life saving potential for fire sprinkler systems, however, for single family residences, fire sprinkler systems are impractical.

The purpose of most fire safety codes is to either eliminate the cause of fire or to give occupants adequate time to escape a burning structure. In a multi-story structure or a large structure that may be unfamiliar to the occupants (hotel, for example) it may take as long as 1/2 hour or more to evacuate a few hundred people. A single family residence, on the other hand, can be evacuated in 30 seconds. Keep in mind that a single family residence has multiple exits including the doorways as well as an egress window in every bedroom. Large commercial structures may have only 2 exits per floor.

A fire sprinkler system does nothing to prevent a fire from starting, but is intended to keep the fire from spreading and possibly extinguish a small fire. There simply is not enough water pressure to extinguish a fire in rural areas on a well nor in most urban areas where the water service to the house is only a 1" or 1 1/2" line coming off a 4" water main.

The risk of freezing pipes is a "major" concern. I will not allow water lines in attics on my projects because they will and do freeze in my moderately cold climate. If sprinkler heads are installed in the ceilings below unheated attics, the cost of these systems will have to be increased for additional insulation and possible construction of false ceilings where piping can be protected from freezing.

The increased cost of construction is no minor problem. Over the years, I have watched the cost of construction increase incrementally due to updated building codes. Have these codes saved lives? Undoubtedly they have, but at what cost. How many people are locked out of home ownership because structures are too expensive? Adding, yet again, to the cost due to building code requirements will lock out that many more people from owning a home.

Are there better and more cost effective ways of achieving the safety goals at less cost? To me the answer is "yes" and with a two fold approach. First, concentrate on fire prevention and, second concentrate on warning systems. Both of these strategies are already in place and simply need some tweaking, especially in older homes where the risk of fire is greater. For example, drywall is a great fire suppresser. Why not require drywall backing behind all flammable interior finishes, such as wood paneling. How many times is wood paneling installed directly to rafters or stud walls? Also, increase the numbers of fire and smoke alarms in a house to include "uninhabitable attics" and crawl spaces. These systems, when hard wired with a backup battery, are very effective at warning occupants to evacuate in time and, when they are accidentally activated, they do not cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

These are just a couple of ideas and I am sure there are many more. When we consider saving lives, we should not jump to the conclusion that spending more money will be the most effective way to solve the problem. There are many common sense approaches to saving lives and most of these are much more cost effective and maintenance free over the long haul.