Fire spurs review of townhouse safety

One change soon takes effect, but officials say stiffer standards might have done little good

Fueled by unusually dry conditions and high winds, the blaze that damaged or destroyed 38 townhouses in North Raleigh so consumed some structures there was nothing left but questions.

Was there something in the design of the townhouses or the layout of the subdivision that caused the fire to spread so quickly and burn so completely?

Are dense subdivisions with adjoining homes particularly vulnerable to wind-driven wildfires?

The Pine Knoll Townes complex met building code requirements, but that provides no comfort to residents whose homes went up in the fast-moving flames.

One resident, Mark Pupilli, said he worries that another, similar fire could happen. If a such a swift fire hits at night, instead of midday, he added, it could be deadly.

"It would be nice if somebody had a concrete answer to how it happened," he said, staring at open space where homes once stood. "Is this [fire] a one-time thing? Or is it something that needs to be design-changed?"

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker had a similar reaction.

"This was a major fire that raised questions as to whether the code is adequate [for townhouses]," he said.

The questions apply to an increasing number of developments with rows of homes connected by common walls. The number of townhouses in the Triangle has more than doubled in the past five years, according to Market Opportunity Research Enterprises, which reported 6,860 units at the end of 2006.

At Meeker's urging, the Raleigh City Council agreed last week to spend $17,000 to have an outside expert review its townhouse building requirements. But the city alone won't be able to toughen standards. It will have to present any recommendations to a state council that includes architects, builders, inspectors, engineers, contractors and public officials.

If the city wants to change its code it must appeal to the N.C. Building Code Council, whose 17 members are appointed by the governor.

"We're certainly willing to listen to anything they uncover," said Dan Tingen, a Raleigh builder who is chairman of the council. "I don't want us to have a knee-jerk response to a once-in-a-lifetime event."

The building council hesitates to make changes lightly because such amendments must automatically apply across the state.

A higher standard

No one died in the Pine Knoll fire, but it was one of the biggest in Raleigh's history, requiring more than 150 firefighters to put it out.

The building code council has already proposed one change in response to the fire -- the first townhouse-specific amendment that North Carolina has put forward, Tingen said.

During its meetings earlier this month, the council introduced an emergency rule requiring builders to use soffits made of noncombustible material on townhouses. Soffits run from the top of an exterior house wall to the outer edge of the roof.

In the Pine Knoll fire, investigators say, flames crept up the vinyl siding of the townhouses and entered into attics through the soffits. The council concluded that noncombustible soffits would have delayed the fire from rapidly spreading into townhouse attics and adjacent units. The rule, which is expected to go into effect April 5, will apply to townhouses that have not yet been issued building permits.

Any further amendments to the building code will likely depend on whether state officials can be convinced that the changes are not an overreaction to a rare event.

At its meeting earlier this month, the council voted 8-4 to soften the state's sprinkler requirements in new buildings despite objections from state Insurance Commissioner Jim Long. The requirements had been raised in response to a 2003 fire at a Rhode Island nightclub that killed 100 people.