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Local News in Brief : Anaheim : City OKs Strict Law on Building Sprinklers

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The City Council on Tuesday night approved Orange County’s strictest fire-sprinkler ordinance for older, high-rise buildings.

The new ordinance, to take effect Jan. 1, 1992, requires all existing buildings 55 feet high or higher to have sprinkler systems. Twelve buildings, including two 11-story towers at the Disneyland Hotel, are affected by the ordinance.

Under current city law, all buildings of 55 feet or more constructed after 1974 had to have sprinklers.

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Anaheim Fire Chief Jeff Bowman proposed extending the ordinance for high-rise buildings built before 1974 after the devastating fire last May at the First Interstate Bank building in Los Angeles. That fire killed one person and caused more than $300 million in damage.

In a presentation last week, Bowman told the City Council that if a similar fire had occurred in an Anaheim high-rise without sprinklers, “I guarantee you that building would have been a shell.”

Under the city’s new ordinance, building owners must file a plan of compliance within a year. A provision allows owners facing prohibitive expenses for the retrofitting, such as asbestos removal, to seek a delay or exemption.

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