Anaheim to Require Sprinklers in All New Homes, Buildings

A sharply divided Anaheim City Council voted Tuesday night to adopt one of the most sweeping fire ordinances in the nation, requiring sprinkler systems in all new homes, apartments and commercial buildings.

The only other city with such a stringent ordinance is Scottsdale, Ariz., Anaheim Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said. Bowman added that San Clemente and a handful of other California cities have sprinkler laws, but they are not as strict.

“I’m very pleased and I couldn’t be happier,” Bowman said.

‘We’re Disappointed’

Orange County’s chapter of the Building Industry Assn. opposed the measure for reasons of cost, liability and lack of consumer demand.

“We’re disappointed,” said John Withers, BIA director of government affairs. “We don’t think the council had full information.”

The ordinance passed on a 3-2 vote, with opposing councilmen Thomas Daly and William D. Ehrle citing costs as their major concern.

The Fire Department estimates the cost of sprinklers for the average new home at $2,000. Sprinklers for a 20,000-square-foot commercial building are estimated at up to $40,000.

“Young families are saving every penny to buy their own home,” Daly said. “‘In the entire United States, there is no more expensive place to buy a house than in Orange County.”

But Councilman Irv Pickler, who voted with Mayor Fred Hunter and Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood to pass the law, said sprinklers save lives.

“You can’t put a value on human life,” Pickler said. “That to me is more important than anything.”

The ordinance, which becomes law in 30 days, requires sprinkler systems for all new commercial buildings, homes and apartments. Current city law requires them only in commercial buildings greater than 6,000 square feet.

The ordinance will have little impact on new apartments in the city. More than 80% of the city’s apartment complexes already have automatic sprinklers, fire officials said, because city ordinances require builders to install the equipment in apartments where fire trucks will have difficulty reaching the buildings through narrow street entrances.

Developers of three residential projects on sprawling ranches in the East Anaheim Hills, where about 5,500 homes and condominiums are scheduled to go up over the next several years, apparently will not have to install sprinklers.

The developers--Woodcrest Development, Presley of Southern California and the Baldwin Building Co.--had negotiated earlier agreements with the city exempting their projects from any new sprinkler requirements in return for providing other fire safety measures.

By law, the city can impose ordinances relating to public health and safety. But Fire Chief Bowman said after Tuesday’s vote that the city would not require the sprinklers in the developments.

Franklyn R. Elfend, a representative of the developers, had estimated the cost of installing sprinklers at $18 million. Anaheim Fire Marshall Michael Doty dismissed that figure as “shooting too high.”

Elfend said after the vote that he had no comment, since he believed the new ordinance would not apply to the ranch developments.