Public Policy on Fire Sprinklers

On behalf of the 850 member companies of the Building Industry Assn., Orange County Region, I want to express our disappointment with your Nov. 8 editorial entitled “Safety Last,” which addressed the mandatory residential fire sprinkler ordinance considered by the Board of Supervisors recently.

To simply say that the unanimous decision by the Board of Supervisors to provide for the orderly implementation of a national fire sprinkler standard as part of the adoption of the 1988 Edition of the Uniform Building Code was because the board is too “builder oriented” shows a lack of the strong public policy reasons for the board’s resolution of this admittedly complex regulatory proposal.

The association believes that the county fire chief’s proposal for mandatory fire sprinklers is not in the best interests of home buyers and renters at present. Consumer demand for sprinklers has not been demonstrated, loss statistics don’t warrant them in the county today, public safety benefits are marginal, they would add significant costs ($1,000 to $2,000) per unit to the most affordable of the county’s new housing product, and they would frustrate adoption of a uniform code.

Those are some reasons why the BIA joined with the Apartment Assn. of Orange County, low-income-housing advocates, the Orange Empire Chapter of the International Conference of Building Officials and others in opposing mandatory fire sprinklers at this time.

GORDON TIPPELL

President,

Building Industry Assn.

Orange County Region