Editor’s note: A poll on NBC12 on the issue asks, “Should home builders be required to install sprinkler systems in all new homes and townhomes built in Virginia? If you have an opinion, click here for the NBC12 article and poll.
By FireRescue1 Staff
CHESTERFIELD, Va. — State officials in Virginia are looking at whether to adopt building codes mandating fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes and townhouses.
Robbie Dawson, Fire Marshal for the Chesterfield Fire Department, is among fire officials in the state pushing for the adoption.
“In Henrico County, just this past quarter, they’ve had seven fire deaths, five of them occurred with working smoke detectors, so smoke detectors aren’t the end all,” he told NBC12.
Building codes mandating fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes were upheld in October when the International Code Council voted to disapprove a motion to remove them.
Representatives from the IAFC, IAFF, NFPA and other organizations gave testimony in support of the existing rules mandating sprinklers as the council met in Baltimore.
After losing that battle, homebuilder associations are now turning their anti-sprinkler efforts toward state level.
Warren Wakeland, of the Homebuilding Association of Richmond, told NBC12 that smoke detectors offer adequate enough protection against fire and that sprinkler detectors are too costly.
“In this economy, where trying to buy a home is about as hard of a thing to do, we have to keep costs down as much as we can,” he said.
But statistics show that nationally, residential fire sprinklers cost approximately $1.61 per-square-foot of finished space, or one percent of the value of the home to install, according to the National Fire Sprinkler Association.
The State Board for Housing and Community Development is currently deciding whether to adopt the code, NBC12 reported.