Fire and water

With enormous new houses becoming popular, North Carolina's building code should reflect fire officials' call for sprinklers

Tragedy can bring tough issues to a head, and the deaths of seven college students at an Ocean Isle Beach home in October has served that purpose regarding North Carolina's debate over sprinklers in large structures. Fire chiefs and fire marshals from across the state vigorously argued to the N.C. Building Code Council last week that local governments should be allowed to require sprinklers in new homes, a change being considered by the council.

Separately, fire officials wanted the statewide code to require sprinklers in larger houses (3,600-plus square feet) and houses three stories or taller. Given the proliferation of humongous homes being built across the state and particularly the fire dangers at big resort rentals, the request makes sense. The council refused to add those provisions to the code, but members can and should reconsider when they meet early next year.

Sprinkler requirements in smaller buildings and homes have been pushed before. But the idea usually is beaten back by protests from the homebuilder lobby that sprinklers cost too much. At least the current debate has pried out some helpful facts.

For instance, Greensboro Fire Marshal David Douglas told the building code council that sprinklers cost just 1 to 2 percent of the value of a typical new house, about the cost of granite countertops or a carpeting upgrade. Compare that cost to the injuries avoided or lives potentially saved by sprinklers, which are designed to douse a fire when triggered by heat.

Another fact: sprinklers can save homeowners money in the long run, since a blaze is extinguished faster than when it's necessary to wait for fire trucks to arrive. The house sustains less damage, and the cost of repairs (or reconstruction in worse cases) is lower. The owners of a sprinkler-equipped house also might save on insurance costs.

The proposal to let local jurisdictions require sprinklers in all new homes would have the advantage of allowing flexibility to respond to local circumstances. But the costs and benefits of mandating sprinklers even in modest-sized houses need to be weighed.

The case for the 3,600-square-foot/three-story rule is clearer. Sprinklers plainly make sense for a rambling new home in Raleigh or Ocean Isle Beach, where a fire in one end of the structure could be missed for critical minutes.

Mega-houses built as rentals are becoming standard on the coast and in other resort areas. Vacationers who have relaxed with a few beers then could find themselves having to escape an unfamiliar house filled with flames.

Those big rental units can sleep 30 or 40 people. Yet the state categorizes them as houses, so sprinklers aren't required. Any sprawling new house that ended up with children or elderly folks living there would have an extra and valuable safety margin if sprinkler-equipped.

Sprinklers cost money, obviously, but they can save money as well, and certainly have shown that they can save lives. Expanding their use simply seems to be good public policy.