The politics of fire sprinklers

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The scars around Amy Acton's neck are a constant reminder of the pain and frustration felt by burn patients.

"I've been in burn care for 25 years. I'm a burn survivor myself. I have seen the devastation that happens with home fires."

Acton has a new concern, involving a new type of I-beam being used in home construction.

Made of composite wood products, they're engineered to be stronger than more traditional I-beams. But there's not as much to them, so they burn much faster, creating deadly smoke, and weakening the path you may cross to escape your burning home.

" It's astounding to learn that you have sometimes as little as three minutes to get out of your home," Acton told 24 Hour News 8. "I have two children. I have animals. That's not much time to make sure everybody's out of your home."

But there is a way to put out or, at the very least, slow down the progression of a fire.

Acton, who serves as Executive Director of the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, is having her home retrofitted with a residential sprinkler system.

It will be expensive, like any behind-the-wall renovation to a home.

But Acton says it's worth every penny.

"I don't know any parent that thought this would happen to them. To their child, " she said. "We need to take action in our country about the fire problem. America has a fire problem."

Acton is part of an effort to put a new rule into the state's uniform building code requiring sprinkler systems in all newly built homes.

The rule would not affect existing homes.

The state is considering the new rule, which would be part of the state's uniform building code. The code is updated every three years.

Public hearings on the revisions, including the residential sprinkler amendment, are scheduled for later this year.

If the legislature adopts the new rules, they'll go into effect in early 2010.

Many of the residential systems are designed to conceal the sprinkler head behind these plates, that break away when the room heats up.

Only the heads near the fire activate.

"If you're going to go with steel pipe, you're probably going to be around $1.50 to $2 a square foot, would be the average," said Doug Irvin, Owner of Brigade Fire Protection.

Systems running off a well and other water sources could cost the homeowner more.

However much it costs, home builder and past president of the Greater Grand Rapids Home Builders Association Lee Kitson said sprinklers are OK as an option, but too much to force on builders and homeowners.

He's part of a larger lobbying effort against residential sprinkler systems.

Nationwide, the group has some success in stopping similar issues in other states.

Kitson says it's a mandate that could hurt an already struggling industry.

"I'm not singling out sprinklers as the one thing that tips us over the edge. But it is one of a series of things that, if we add them, we'll have no market."

It should come as little suprise that firefighters are backing the mandate. Part of their support is based on public safety, part based on firefighter safety.

About the time the new style I-beams fail is about the time a firefighter may be battling flames on the floor above.

"He could literally fall into the middle of the fire," said Walker Fire Marshall Phil McCormack.

But firefighters admit, most fatal fires tend to occur in older homes, which would not be affected by the new rules.

But consider what happened in Scottsdale, Arizona, one of the first communities to require a sprinkler ordinance in 1986.

In the first 15 years, the number of fire fatalities in the city dropped by 50 percent - 13 lives were saved as a direct result of the sprinkler ordinance, according tothe department.

"We know the technology's out there to save lives," McCormack said. "We'd be remiss in our duty if we didn't push this issue to make sure that it happens."

But critics say the mandate is just one more step down a long path that has no end in sight.

"If you want to eliminate falls on stairs, you could require elevators," Kitson said. "We can't do everything you can do. You'll have a house nobody can afford."

On the Net:

A call to join the Sprinkler Fight - NFPA

Residential Fire Sprinklers

NAHB - Fire Death Rates

NAHB - Fire Sprinklers and Insurance

Home Fire Sprinkler