Deadly Mistake

The Los Angeles City Council is watering down the mayor’s proposal to require automatic sprinklers in all buildings taller than 75 feet (about six stories). The council would require owners to retrofit older office buildings and towering hotels, but would exempt high-rise apartments and condominiums. That could be a deadly mistake.

Fatal fires are more prevalent in high-rise apartments and skyscraper hotels than in office buildings. The proposed ordinance should be toughened to require working sprinklers in residential as well as commercial buildings.

Mayor Tom Bradley proposed the ordinance in the wake of the devastating fire at the First Interstate Bank building on May 4. The blaze killed one man, injured 40 people and did millions of dollars of damage in the city’s tallest building. Damage and injuries would have been minimal in the 62-story building had automatic sprinklers worked, according to fire officials. Sprinklers were being installed at the time of the fire.

Under state law, skyscrapers built after 1974 must have working sprinkler systems. Under the mayor’s proposal, older high-rises would be retrofitted with automatic sprinklers, fire-resistant doors to prevent smoke from entering elevators, and roof vents to allow smoke, heat and dangerous gases to escape. The precautions, recommended by the mayor’s emergency task force appointed after the bank fire, are sound fire-safety procedures.

The ordinance, amended during a joint meeting of the Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee and the Building and Safety Committee, would apply to 350 commercial buildings built before 1974. It would exempt about 100 residential high-rises because of concern that such a requirement would lead to higher rents and evictions.

The installation of sprinklers would cost an estimated $3 to $3.50 per square foot, according to experts from the city’s Department of Building and Safety. That cost would rise dramatically to $14 to $20 per square foot if asbestos insulation had to be removed. The concerns over cost are valid, but owners should be willing to protect their tenants and their substantial investments.

Sprinkler systems save lives and reduce damage in high-rise buildings. Bradley and the Los Angeles City Council should require automatic sprinklers in tall commercial and residential buildings. No one should die or suffer serious injury in a fire at work or at home.