VENTURA : Burning Room Puts Sprinklers to Test

The Ventura City Fire Department put people in a burning living room Tuesday to promote a proposed city ordinance requiring fire sprinklers in all new commercial and residential developments.

The demonstration took place in a special trailer built by the state fire marshal’s office. The trailer is loaned to fire departments throughout the state to illustrate the importance of sprinklers, Fire Department spokesman Barry Simmons said.

“We don’t have statistics for the city, but in the country, 80% of deaths by fire are in the home,” he said.

The city already has an ordinance that requires any commercial or residential unit larger than 5,000 square feet to have a sprinkler system.

The Fire Department wants the city to require all new residences and commercial buildings to have sprinkler systems, Simmons said. “The council knows it will save lives,” as well as something perhaps just as precious--water, he said.

“A sprinkler head uses 18 gallons of water per minute and a fire hose uses 250 gallons a minute,” Simmons said. “An ordinance like this will help keep the city from having to expand the Fire Department over the next 50 years,” he added.

Tuesday’s demonstration helped persuade those who sat in the burning room, and those who watched, of the efficiency of sprinkler systems, Simmons said.

“We put three volunteers in the fire room, cover them with plastic ponchos and then set a trash can filled with newspaper on fire,” Simmons said.

“It gets very smoky and the heat gets a little uncomfortable, so they’re very glad when that sprinkler goes off within 18 seconds.”

The demonstration will be open to the public at 11 a.m. today at the Ventura Police and Fire Administration Building, 1425 Dowell Dr., and at 3 p.m. at the city’s maintenance yard at San Jon Road and Thompson Boulevard.