Posts Tagged Illinois State Fire Marshall wants residential sprinklers mandated by law

IL State Fire Marshal withdraws push for residential sprinklers

The Chicago Tribune has an article about the a change in direction of the Illinois State FIre Marshal on the subject of sprinklers for high-rise buildings:

Mounting public pressure from residents, condo owners and Chicago aldermen, as well as a nudge from Gov. Pat Quinn, prompted the Illinois state fire marshal on Friday to drop his push to require the owners of older high-rises to install sprinklers in their buildings.

The move came after thousands of residents wrote letters, called and visited the offices of their local legislators to lobby against the proposed stricter fire safety rules. It also came after a heated town hall meeting in which representatives from the fire marshal’s office were ridiculed and interrogated about the proposed regulations.

“I am officially withdrawing the proposed rule before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to take into account substantial public comment and carefully re-examine this issue,” Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis wrote in a statement Friday.”It’s become clear that any proposed state rule needs additional refinement.”

Quinn encouraged Matkaitis to shelve his proposal.

“He did advise the fire marshal that clearly there was more work to do here,” said Brooke Anderson, Quinn’s spokeswoman. “Legitimate concerns have been raised by local officials.”

Several legislators who serve on the legislative committee to which Matkaitis had submitted his proposal also said the fire marshal didn’t have the authority to introduce it. Rules with potential for such a huge impact should go through the legislative process, said state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, a committee member.

Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, said he suggested to the fire marshal that he bring the proposal to the full legislature, giving people a chance to give feedback. Both representatives said they had each received more than 1,000 emails and letters from the public.

Last month, Matkaitis proposed updated regulations that would have, among other things, required the owners of older residential high-rises to install sprinklers. The rules would have affected high-rises throughout the state but came under particular scrutiny in Chicago because of the prevalence of tall buildings.

Some Chicago building owners and residents voiced strong opposition, saying installing sprinklers would be too costly. Opponents complained that the cost would eventually get pushed on to residents through assessment fees and rent hikes.

“This rule was doomed for many of our residents,” said Bill Schmidt, president of the Carl Sandburg Village Condo Association II, who also spent a day lobbying state representatives about the matter. “A third of our residents are on fixed incomes and retired. … There is no way that even half of these people could afford this.”

In Chicago, high-rises built after 1975 have been required to have sprinklers. But the city has struggled to get its older high-rises to comply with modern safety standards. The city does require building owners to pass a complicated inspection process to prove it has adequate fire safety measures.

Critics have dismissed sprinklers as unnecessary for buildings that have safety features like fire alarms, sophisticated elevators that return to the ground level if there is a blaze and doors that can hold off flames and smoke.

In June we posted an article about the push for sprinklers.

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State fire marshal advocates residential sprinklers

WSILtv.com in southern Illinois ran an article about the illinois State Fire Marshal advocating the use of residential sprinklers.

ILLINOIS —  The state fire marshal believes sprinklers in more houses will save lives and wants the fire code to require them in all new homes. Some groups are opposing the plan, saying it will do more harm than good.

“Most of the buildings today that are being built are a lot bigger,” said Du Quoin Fire Chief Bob Shaw. “They have big open spaces.”

Shaw is one of many people and organizations supporting the state fire marshal’s plan. He believes the projected $3,000 price of sprinklers would be offset by savings on insurance.

“I think people are afraid of them,” said Shaw. “You know like they were with smoke detectors before we put them in.”

Shaw feels the sprinklers will prevent injuries and deaths. Many new houses are also being built farther from town and with lighter materials. Sprinklers buy firefighters time to put out the flames.

Dozens of communities in Illinois already have sprinkler codes.

“Who would stay in a high rise that didn’t have them?” said Shaw. Who would stay in a hotel that didn’t have them?”

Those against the state fire marshal’s plan, however, feel the last thing Illinois needs is higher prices for home building.

“Illinois is in 50th place for new home construction, said Edd Knight with E.A. Knight Construction. “We’re the bottom of the list.”

Knight has been fighting the proposal for years and doesn’t believe the price of sprinklers pays off.

“I mean a negligible amount,” said Knight.

New houses already have smoke detectors, and Knight says they’re a very effective tool at saving lives.

“It’s not unusual at all for us to go into a home and spend more time and money repairing the water damage than what the actual fire caused,” said Knight.

A bi-partisan committee, The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, is taking public comments on the plan until August 12th. They will then decide whether to include it in the new fire code. That decision could happen in September or October.

The complete article can be found HERE.

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