Fire Sprinklers Set to Become Standard in New Homes; Group Warns of Inferior Cabling

Members of the International Code Council's Residential Building Code Committee (RBCC) have made it clear that fire sprinklers are destined to become a standard feature in all new homes. The fire sprinkler requirement was added to the International Residential Code (IRC) last year, and it is scheduled to become effective January 1, 2011, in states that adopt the latest version of this code. Currently, 48 states use the IRC as a basis of regulating residential construction, although some states lag behind in adopting updates.

At a hearing held earlier this week, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) had petitioned the International Code Council (ICC), which publishes the IRC, to repeal the fire sprinkler requirement, but the RBCC rejected that request by a vote of 7 to 4.

"This vote is significant in two ways," said Chief Ronny J. Coleman, president of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition and former fire marshal for the state of California. "Not only did the RBCC reject the homebuilders' request to repeal the sprinkler requirement, but if you look at the vote, every member of the committee, other than the four who are appointed by NAHB, voted to uphold the fire sprinkler requirement." Following the committee vote, NAHB attempted to use a new procedure in the ICC process that allows members assembled at the hearing to overrule the committee decision, but the members made it clear that they were standing firm on protecting American families from fire. More than 1,000 ICC members in attendance voted overwhelmingly to affirm the RBCC's decision.

"ICC's message on this matter is pretty clear," said Jeffrey Shapiro, P.E., executive director of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition. "Their membership has now supported the home fire sprinkler requirement at both the 2008 and 2009 annual hearings, and each of those votes passed by more than a two-thirds margin." Those decisions have now been further affirmed by the RBCC, which is a balanced, consensus committee that includes homebuilders, building and fire safety officials, architects and engineers.

"People who buy new homes that comply with the IRC fire sprinkler and smoke alarm requirements can sleep peacefully knowing that their families and their homes are protected from fire," said Meri-K Appy, president of the non-profit Home Safety Council.

While fire sprinklers provide a level of comfort, further prevention is sometimes necessary. Take for example the recent announcement from the Communications Cable and Connectivity Association, Inc. (CCCA) that warns of an increased risk of fire from offshore-manufactured communications cable products which fail to meet National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) minimum requirements for fire safety. It's a problem, the CCCA says, that continues to plague the industry and marketplace.

"As we witnessed last year, the failing products were made with inferior materials and designs to save on production costs and they predictably failed the minimum fire safety requirements," said CCCA Executive Director, Frank Peri, whose organization's test results showed that six of the eight samples failed to meet the minimum NFPA code requirements for low flame spread and/or smoke generation for installation in commercial buildings, schools and multi-tenant residences. "All of the failing samples exhibited catastrophic results, indicating an unacceptable public safety hazard still exists."

Cables selected for the tests were all procured from North American distributor's inventory between March and May 2009 and were comprised of riser and plenum rated Category 5e and Category 6 cables, which are the predominant cable types used for wired local area networks (LAN). Category 5e cables also are typically used for telephone interconnection within a building. These cables are commonly installed behind walls and in ceiling cavities, and are connected to wall outlets that have phone or Ethernet ports.

"The CCCA has taken the position that this serious problem will not go away until quality assurance procedures include testing of samples of finished cable procured directly from the marketplace. Our association is cooperating with the major independent telecommunications industry testing agencies to establish a stronger approach to assure compliance to safety standards," Peri added. "We are very encouraged that a major independent testing agency has informed our association that it plans to put in place new quality assurance measures which include testing of finished product procured directly from the marketplace."

P. Mosca