Anaheim to Consider Fire Sprinklers for New Homes

The Anaheim City Council on Tuesday agreed to consider a sweeping fire protection ordinance that, among other provisions, would require installation of sprinkler systems as single-family homes are built.

The ordinance would also require that sprinkler systems be installed in all Anaheim high-rise buildings that were built before a 1974 state law made such systems mandatory.

The Anaheim debate over the need for mandatory fire protection systems followed by less than a month the spectacular high-rise fire that on May 5 gutted five floors of the 62-story First Interstate Bank building in downtown Los Angeles. Fire officials determined that damage to the building would have been sharply limited had a sprinkler system been operating. Sprinklers were being installed at the time of the fire.

Buildings Lack Sprinklers

Anaheim fire officials later revealed that, of 28 buildings in the city higher than 55 feet, 11 have no fire sprinkler systems. Among them are two 11-story towers of the Disneyland Hotel, the 14-story Inn at the Park, the 10-story Bank of America building and Kaiser Hospital.

Anaheim Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said Tuesday that the Disneyland Hotel owners have agreed to retrofit their two towers within the next three years and that meetings are planned with representatives of other high-rises to encourage them to follow suit.

Provisions of the proposed ordinance, all supported by Bowman, require:

* The installation of sprinklers in all existing buildings of 55 feet or more by January, 1992.

* Sprinkler systems in all newly constructed industrial and commercial buildings. The city’s current ordinance requires sprinklers in buildings greater than 6,000 square feet.

* Sprinkler systems in all new apartment and condominium complexes of two or more units.

* Sprinkler systems in newly constructed single-family homes.

While the council agreed to consider mandatory construction of sprinkler systems in single-family homes, some council members argued that the costs of installation would be prohibitive.

“I think we have an obligation to the general public to ensure safety, and I would like to see an ordinance dealing with high-rises and commercial buildings because I believe it is in the common good. But there would be a lot of concerns about requiring systems in single-family homes,” said Councilman William Ehrle.

Allan B. Hughes, executive director of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, said a mandatory sprinkler law could make the cost of homes prohibitive for new buyers.

“There has been talk that the developer would pay for it, but those costs would be put on the consumer,” Hughes said. “The housing costs in Orange County are already among the highest in the nation, and we are hurting for people that can live and work here. I think it would be more realistic to make sprinklers an option for homeowners.”

According to figures cited by Bowman, based on a survey of fire protection companies in the area, the cost of installing systems averages about $1 per square foot for residences and $3 per square foot for commercial buildings.

However, Bowman, who called a tour by Anaheim fire officials of the First Interstate Bank building a “soul-searching experience,” said the safety that sprinkler systems provide are worth the cost.

“Approximately 70% of all fire deaths in the United States occur in residential buildings, many of which are single-family homes,” Bowman said.