With regard to the conversation taking place in Rehoboth about residential fire sprinklers, please note that the Delaware Fire Sprinkler Coalition and the DVFA Sprinkler Committee both support the commissioners’ review of the residential building codes and encourage them to leave the requirements for residential fire sprinklers intact.
Residential fire sprinklers will protect many people and significantly reduce property damages. Certainly the homeowners, any tenants, their pets and their possessions will be protected by the 24-hour coverage. When a property is protected by a fire sprinkler system, fires are kept to the room of origin 97 percent of the time, and sprinklers use 90 percent less water than what is flowed by a firefighter’s hose.
First responders are protected due to responding to less severe conditions. Neighbors are protected since an interior fire will be held in check and not extend to neighboring properties. The impact on a water distribution system and the wastewater system is dramatically reduced by having the fire controlled by a properly installed and maintained sprinkler system.
Insurance claims will be considerably lower, as well as the aspect that the affected occupants will most likely be able to stay in the same occupancy after the fire instead of being displaced for months.
Concerns about costs have already been addressed by the requirements in the National Fire Protection Association standard that details residential fire sprinkler installation. Allowances have been made to sprinkler those areas in a home where fatalities are most likely to take place, thus outlying areas of the dwelling, such as attics and garages, are not required to have sprinkler protection. These areas can be included in the sprinkler coverage if the owner chooses to do so.
Absent owners can also incorporate insulation plans to protect the sprinkler piping, but if the regular plumbing system is properly insulated, then the sprinkler piping should be appropriately covered as well.
Residential fire sprinklers have been included in the residential building codes since 2009, and sprinkler technology has been available for over 100 years. To not build with residential fire sprinklers is, at a minimum, irresponsible.
Protect your home, your family, your neighbor’s home, and your firefighters with residential fire sprinklers.
Paul Eichler
chairman, Delaware Fire Sprinkler Coalition
chairman, DVFA Sprinkler Committee
Dover
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