TUSTIN : Resident Seeks Broad Fire-Sprinkler Law

Motivated by a recent apartment fire that killed a 4-year-old boy, Tustin resident Frank Kazerski plans to ask the City Council tonight to strengthen its fire-sprinkler requirements.

His request falls on the one-year anniversary of a fire that left Kazerski, his wife, and the occupants of three other condominiums homeless. That fire occurred just a block from the fire that killed young Jimmy De La Riva on May 11.

Tustin requires builders to install sprinklers in new commercial and industrial buildings, condominiums and apartment buildings with more than three stories or more than 15 units.

Kazerski is proposing that the city also require sprinklers in all existing apartment complexes larger than 5,000 square feet.

He will be accompanied at the council meeting by a representative from the Orange County Fire Department, which serves Tustin.

Fire Capt. Hank Raymond said few cities require retrofitting--installation of sprinklers in existing buildings.

“But retrofit is just one issue,” Raymond said. “Where we need to put fire sprinklers is in all new developments. Obviously, development is going crazy in Orange County. Putting sprinklers in all new developments is the best idea.”

In January, Tustin declined a request by the Fire Department to require fire sprinklers in new homes. After a spokesman for the building industry told the council that the cost of sprinklers could price some people out of new homes, the council deadlocked on a motion to encourage builders to offer fire sprinklers as an option, much like upgraded tile or other amenities.

Kazerski, though, is concerned with apartment buildings rather than single-family houses.

“If they want to burn, fine,” he said. “They’re homeowners and can make their own decision. But apartment dwellers don’t have that decision-making power. . . . They rent by necessity, and they should be entitled to fire safety by law.”

Kazerski, who lives in an apartment, said he was moved to action as he listened to TV news commentators saying that young Jimmy De La Riva would not have died had the apartment building been equipped with sprinklers.

The City Council cannot take action tonight on Kazerski’s request because it is not on the agenda.