County Decision Due Wednesday on Fire Sprinklers

After weeks of intense lobbying by home builders and fire officials, county supervisors are expected to consider Wednesday the controversial issue of whether automatic fire sprinkler systems should be required in all new homes in unincorporated areas.

Fire officials say sprinklers are essential because they save lives by putting out fires before they spread.

But home builders have been lobbying for a no vote. They say that sprinkler systems will make housing even more unaffordable and are unnecessary because new homes are already fire safe.

It is an emotional issue because so many people die in fires--10 people killed in the county last year and more than 6,000 nationally.

Besides requiring sprinklers in all new single-family homes in the county, the proposed changes to the county’s uniform building code also call for sprinklers to be installed in existing homes if enlarged by 50% or more, when that brings the total size to more than 3,600 square feet.

The changes would also require fire sprinklers in all new multifamily buildings.

Most builders agree that the impact of the proposed codes would be felt most in the South County, which has the largest expanses of unincorporated and undeveloped land. According to state Department of Finance estimates, Orange County is 60% built out, with much of the projected building activity through 2020 expected in the southern and eastern parts of the county.

“We are lobbying in the interest of reason and the interest of safety,” said Michael Lennon, director of community affairs for the Building Industry Assn. He said sprinklers would increase the cost of new homes in a housing market that is already very expensive.

Board of Supervisors staff members told The Times that lobbying by developers, home builders, the Building Industry Assn. and fire officials has been intense since the proposed code changes were first made public last month.

“I think this is a very serious issue, and I am not taking it lightly,” Supervisor Thomas F. Riley said.

He said he has spent considerable time listening to the arguments from the Building Industry Assn. and developers, as well as from Larry J. Holms, county fire chief.

Riley, the outgoing chairman of the board, said late last week that he was not sure how he or other supervisors would vote when the issue comes before the board Wednesday. But he said a compromise might be reached by requiring home builders at least to offer sprinkler systems to buyers.

But Supervisor Don R. Roth, who will take over as chairman this week, said: “There is no outcry from the public demanding fire sprinklers in all new single-family houses. The public is very, very complacent about this issue.”

Chief Holms and county Fire Marshal William L. Wright said fire protection officials have failed to educate the public on the need of sprinklers in all buildings. That, they said, is the main reason for the complacency and lack of public outcry.

The Building Industry Assn. said the cost to equip a new home with sprinklers reaches into the thousands of dollars, which might be enough to force even more people out of an already-unreachable housing market.

Lennon, the builder group’s public affairs chief, said more than 85% of county residents can already no longer afford a new home at today’s prices.

Lennon said his organization--which represents home builders, subcontractors and suppliers--strongly supports the current California-wide building codes created by experts, including fire officials, which he said addresses all safety issues--including fire.

Those codes require smoke detectors, which, according to county statistics, have cut residential fire deaths in half.

But Holms, who has been a firefighter for 30 years, said installation of automatic fire sprinkler systems in new homes is a safety issue that involves the very young, the very old and those who are incapacitated.

“My strong personal feelings about this issue have developed over many years--and (during) the many times I have stood overlooking debris with families who have lost loved ones or all their personal belongings in a fire,” he said.

“The longer I am in the business, the more personally committed I become. It is so needless. Why should a child die because it is in a crib or an older person because they can’t walk or run?”

Smoke detectors let you know there is a fire, he said, and sprinklers put the fire out.

Holms said he understands the concerns of developers and builders, who are under pressure from all sides to add this and add that.

But, he said, “my sympathy only goes so far.”

If the sprinkler systems were approved, Holms said, they would be included in about 60,000 homes from now until the county is fully developed.

“That could make the lives of at least 180,000 people safer,” he said. “We are talking about the kids of our kids.”

What’s more, the requirement could be cost effective, fire officials said. With sprinklers in enough homes, the need for fire protection could decrease. Each fire engine costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the price tag for each additional firefighter, benefits included, can reach $180,000 a year.

“It is a one-time cost to put sprinklers in a new home, but fire losses occur year after year,” Fire Marshal Wright said.

He said adding sprinklers in new homes would help “put a cap on fire protection costs.”

Wright estimated that it costs about $2,000 to include a sprinkler system in a new home, which he said is a small sum when the average county house costs $238,000.

It would cost about $3,000 to retrofit an older house, he said.

Most of that additional cost would eventually be returned to the homeowner through lower insurance costs. More than 20 insurance companies offer premium reductions of 5% to 25% for homes equipped with automatic sprinkler systems, Fire Department officials said.

The issue over whether builders should be required to put sprinklers in new homes has been argued before. Supervisors put off deciding whether to require them in all new single-family homes in the unincorporated areas in 1987 because they said state and federal regulations were expected soon. These never materialized.

Sprinkler systems are already required in all new family homes in San Clemente, Anaheim, Dana Point, Placentia, Cypress, Stanton and Seal Beach. Los Alamitos, according to fire officials, requires the systems in new homes because of water-pressure problems.

A study of the last 82 years in Australia and New Zealand, cited by the League of California Cities, shows that 99.8% of the time, sprinklers controlled or extinguished structure fires.

The league’s report also pointed to Disney World-Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla. Developed in the mid-1970s, the project provided the latest in fire protection, including sprinklers in every building of more than 1,000 square feet, smoke detectors, regular inspections of equipment and employee training programs.

According to the league’s report, the theme park, which has a daily population of 200,000 people, has had no fire injuries or fatalities, and its annual fire loss is less than $5,000.