Many new home builders in North Carolina are opposed and pretty darn peeved about the likely adoption of a new fire code that requires all one and two-family new home construction beginning in 2012 to have residential fire sprinklers installed. Here's why...
Cost: Cost is the great concern for builders, particularly starter homes which require lower construction costs as a means to appeal to a lower income buyer.
Perception or lack of visual appeal: Many builders as well as homebuyers view residential fire sprinklers as an unnecessary component to building a new home. Often, buyers will choose a security system as a much more practical and sensible add on feature even though death from fires and burns are the third leading cause of fatal home injuries in the United States. They are commonly seen as invasive, messy and simply unappealing.
In Greensboro, NC, Gwendolyn Williams and Tracy Travis, both residing in different homes heated some oil on their stoves. They both walked into another room and forgot about the oil in the kitchen. Williams fell asleep forgetting all about the oil in her kitchen until the alarm went off awaking her from her sleep. She saw the fire and ran outside to call 911. The only damage done to her apartment was a mark on the floor from a fallen flower pot. Her apartment had a sprinkler system. Now, Travis on the other hand didn't fall asleep but forgot also about the oil on the stove. When she went back into the kitchen she realized the pot had caught fire. She mistakenly attempted to extinguish the fire by spraying it with water. Because the pot containted oil, the fire quickly spread which caused Travis to become severely burned. By the time the fire department arrived, her home was engulfed and she was rushed to the burn center to receive intensive burn treatment on her head and arms.
Unfortunately stories like these happen every day. Here in NC the ongoing fight by residential builders to stop the enforcement of residential sprinklers in new home construction has firefighters, insurance companies and health care facilities appalled at the home building industry's lack of social responsibility and level of committment and desire in minimizing damage and saving lives. For the past 6 years, fires in dwellings with sprinklers have caused 1/5 of the amount of damage in homes than fires in those without according to fire department data.
So, what are your thoughts? Should residential fire sprinklers be a mandatory feature in new homes or at the very least, should homebuyers be given a choice to have them installed?
For more information, please visit: http://www.ncfma.com/residential_sprinklers.
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