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Fire Officials Push For Sprinklers In HomesWith city building codes only requiring them in new buildings, some people are questioning if their homes are safe.With last week's fire that destroyed some condos in Independence Park serving as a reminder, there is a push in the community to get more places equipped with sprinkler systems to save property and lives. With city building codes only requiring them in new buildings, some people are questioning if their homes are safe. “Its probably the rare exception for an apartment building to have sprinklers,” said Acting Fire Marshal James Gray. If fire officials had their way, fire sprinklers would be in every home. “We would prefer all buildings are sprinkled,” said Gray. Sprinklers have proven to protect both property and lives. “Because they put the fire out before it spreads to other structures and other places the potential to save other people and property is much greater if the building is sprinkled,” said Gray. Those who build homes across Anchorage agree sprinklers help, but say they can add about $15,000 dollars to the price of a home and even more for a big building. “The economics drives some of the installation of those items,” said Gray. Which is why some say installing them should be a choice. “Although fire sprinklers may be a good thing, we believe it should be an option to a person buying house,” said Paul Michelsohn, who is the Building Co-Chair, for the Anchorage Home Builders Association. But with the damaged Independence Park condos not required to have sprinkler systems in place, the question is should that change? Damage those who inspect, test, and maintain fire sprinklers say could have been avoided. “Will the sprinkler system help yes it will minimize damage in a building,” said Bart Meinhardt, who is the Service Manager for Yukon Fire Protection Services. “Fire sprinkler systems in themselves are basically like having a fireman in your own home.” “Once a sprinkler head activates, if it is in the proximity of the fire and there is no obstructions to the sprinkler head and things are working the way things are supposed to work, they put out the fire really quickly,” said Gray. But the reality of city building codes only requiring new multi-family units to have sprinklers has folks pushing what they call the number one method in getting out of a fire safely: functioning smoke detectors. “Sprinkler systems save structures, smoke detectors save lives,” said Michelsohn. One code that is required is having a working smoking detector both in a bedroom and right outside. For example, if you have a two-bedroom apartment, you should have three smoke detectors. One in each bedroom and one in the hallway outside. Officials do stress checking the batteries often to keep them working at all times. Also officials say the chance of a fire in a happening in a new home has dropped anywhere from 85% to 90% in the last 15 years because of a combination of technology and better building codes. |
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Jackie said on Sunday, Apr 3 at 4:15 PM
How much more does "everyone" else have to spend to save some from themselves, if they make this a mandatory thing?
64042997Jeff said on Saturday, Apr 2 at 10:53 PM
$15,000 is at the higher end of the cost in homes. The average is less than $2/sq ft, and goes as low as $.30/sq ft. Gray doesn't do any favors for his case by stating the high end. Straight from the NFPA.
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