Oppose Costly and Ineffective Mandatory Requirements for Residential Fire Sprinklers

How Would Residential Fire Sprinklers Become Mandatory?
The sets of building codes produced by the International Code Council (ICC) serve as the basis for most state building codes in the United States. Currently, 47 states and the District of Columbia use the International Building Code, 42 states and D.C. use the International Fire Code, and 45 states and D.C. use the International Residential Code (IRC). This latter code, the IRC, currently contains an optional provision in its appendix for residential fire sprinklers in one- and two-family homes. There was a motion to make this provision mandatory and move it into the main body of the IRC during this cycle of the ICC’s Code Development hearings. This motion was defeated but could be overturned in the Final Action Hearings. If this requirement makes it into the IRC, the code which New York State models their Residential Code on will require fire sprinklers in one- and two-family homes. New York State can opt not to include that provision but it will be a difficult fight during our state’s code development process.

What Are Homebuilders Doing About This Issue?
NAHB and NYSBA have a grassroots mobilization campaign to prevent an override of the defeated mandatory sprinkler proposal at the ICC Final Action Hearings in Rochester, NY from May 21-26. Governmental members of the ICC are the only ones permitted to vote in these final hearings, which determine the content of the 2007 Supplement to the ICC codes. The goal of this grassroots effort is to ensure that eligible local governments are sending their full contingent of voting representatives to the Final Action Hearings and that these representatives understand the impacts mandatory sprinklers would have on housing costs and the preference for keeping sprinkler requirements optional in the appendices of the IRC.

Why Is It Important for NY Homebuilders to Participate in this Effort?
One key element of assistance that the members of the NYSBA can provide in this campaign is to focus on educating municipalities within a day’s driving distance of Rochester. Sending their full contingency of voting representatives (municipal staff and officials) for the full five days of the Final Action Hearings is out of the question for many municipalities. Based on the hearing schedule, it looks like the fire sprinkler vote will be sometime on Tuesday, May 22 or Wednesday, May 23. Municipalities within a few hours driving distance of Rochester are more likely to send their voting representatives to at least these two days of the hearings so it’s important for NYSBA members to educate our municipalities on the issues. For more information on how municipal bodies can join the ICC as Governmental Members and the rules on their designated voting representatives, click here.

Get Educated and Get Resources
To help you in educating ICC Governmental Members on the issues relating to mandatory residential fire sprinkler requirements, NAHB has posted an excellent selection of materials on their website at www.nahb.org/sprinklers. In this Residential Fire Sprinkler Action Kit you will find an overview of the issue, a form letter, talking points, and a wealth of research. Also, for a really quick and consumer-friendly overview of the sprinkler issue and some good points on smoke alarms visit the NAHB-sponsored www.smokealarmswork.com.

(NOTE: To access the NAHB’s Residential Fire Sprinkler Kit, which is exclusive member content, you will be required to login with your NAHB member username and password. If you haven’t registered for a username and password go to www.nahb.org/login, create a user name and password, enter your NAHB pin and your state, then select remember my username and password if you wish. If you forgot your NAHB username and password call 800-368-5242 ext. 0 or email your name, company name, phone number, and local HBA number to login@nahb.org.)

Don’t Do It Alone, Build Issue-Based Coalitions
Mandatory residential fire sprinklers will increase housing costs. This is an issue of concern to many groups within your communities such as affordable housing organizations, regional and county economic development entities engaged in workforce development, county and local chambers trying to find employees who can afford to live where they work and others. Share your knowledge and rally other advocates in support of your position on this issue. For an example of how another local homebuilders association expanded their grassroots efforts in this way along with the commentary they provided to a potential coalition member, click here.

Ongoing Support
NYSBA will also be continually encouraging the local HBAs to take action on these issues by discussing local efforts on the EO Hour teleconferences every other week, publishing an action oriented article in the March/April issue of Empire State Builder magazine, and posting additional materials on the NYSBA website as they become available. In addition, be sure to check out www.nahb.org/sprinklers for more tools you can use to take action.