forensics
Bronze Member
Well Guys next up is the SC Building Codes Council and the 2009 IRC
I though I would post my letter in support of adoption
So go ahead
FEEDING FRENZY
November 22, 2009
The South Carolina Building Codes Council
PO Box 11329
Columbia, SC 29211-1329
RE: 2009 IRC Code Hearing
Honorable Building Code Council Members,
Please accept these comments in relation to the adoption of the 2009 IRC Code for South Carolina.
In that the code officials have seen it fit to include residential fire sprinklers in the body of the 2009 IRC Code because of their undisputed reliability and effectiveness, I heartily endorse the inclusion of those provisions in South Carolina and also the adoption of the 2009 IRC code in it entirety.
There are forces at work that would have you to believe that there are equally effective alternatives to these low cost systems but that just is not true. Residential sprinklers provide active defense against loss of life in fires and that distinction sets them apart from any alarm or detection devices.
The fact remains that both alarms and sprinklers save lives and together the two systems dramatically increase your family’s chances of survivability.
It will only be a matter of time until a legal challenge will be instituted as a result of the untimely death of a citizen because we chose to disregard the recommendations of all three model building codes.
Our integrity is sure to be called into question as the code approval and enforcement authority having jurisdiction for willful disregard of the code recommendations.
The proven technology that allows the sprinkler systems to be easily integrated into the home plumbing systems has reduced the cost to as low as two dollars per square foot or less of the heated space in a new home.
While residential sprinklers may well be a good investment at the five to seven dollar cost that has been quoted by the homebuilders and sprinkler opponents, the failure to include them at a cost of less than two dollars is nothing short of foolhardy and could even be considered to be reckless.
Common sense demands the inclusion of these lifesaving systems purely from a life safety standpoint, but when one considers the insurance savings alone the inclusion of the sprinklers is a “no brainer.”
The fire sprinklers do not increase the overall cost of a home when one considers the tax base impact of providing these homes with fire protection. After all it is the homeowners who bear the cost of the infrastructure in their tax bills.
Residential fire sprinklers are a superior technology to fire stations and apparatus and they will provide a safer home than we could ever accomplish through the current methods.
One must consider the total number of homes that could be sprinkled for the ten plus million dollars that must be expended to construct just one fire station and that cost does not even consider the operating cost for that fire station, training, personnel, and equipment.
Such arguments as lack of adequate water supply, cost burden, inability of the plumbers to accomplish the work, non-combustible construction materials and methods and every other argument we have heard are unfounded and some border on the ridiculous.
I beg of you to do the research necessary to confirm the effectiveness of these life saving systems.
The inclusion of residential sprinklers in the 2009 code not only help overcome the eminent risk and danger of firefighting operations in lightweight construction framing, but they also force the large scale residential developments from reaping their profits and leaving the problem of protecting the residents of their developments to the tax payers.
All too often they then pack up and leave town to go elsewhere to develop even more unprotected neighborhoods. This code requirement forces them to accept responsibility for fire protection in their developments.
At the end of the day the residential fire sprinklers will serve to save lives and drastically reduce fire related property losses in South Carolina and they will do so for far less cost.
Their adoption will be no less effective in South Carolina than they are in such places as Scottsdale Az., Prince George County, Md. or the other four hundred communities that currently mandate the systems and prove their effectiveness.
There are absolutely no reasonable arguments to defer or omit the inclusion of residential fire sprinklers except to slightly reduce the cost of a new home temporarily at the cost of lives of South Carolina citizens.
The citizenry deserves better and we must not be deterred by the few who would choose to play politics with our very lives in order to increase their market share and profitability.
Thank you for your faithful diligence and service to the people of our great state.
FORENSICS
I though I would post my letter in support of adoption
So go ahead
FEEDING FRENZY
November 22, 2009
The South Carolina Building Codes Council
PO Box 11329
Columbia, SC 29211-1329
RE: 2009 IRC Code Hearing
Honorable Building Code Council Members,
Please accept these comments in relation to the adoption of the 2009 IRC Code for South Carolina.
In that the code officials have seen it fit to include residential fire sprinklers in the body of the 2009 IRC Code because of their undisputed reliability and effectiveness, I heartily endorse the inclusion of those provisions in South Carolina and also the adoption of the 2009 IRC code in it entirety.
There are forces at work that would have you to believe that there are equally effective alternatives to these low cost systems but that just is not true. Residential sprinklers provide active defense against loss of life in fires and that distinction sets them apart from any alarm or detection devices.
The fact remains that both alarms and sprinklers save lives and together the two systems dramatically increase your family’s chances of survivability.
It will only be a matter of time until a legal challenge will be instituted as a result of the untimely death of a citizen because we chose to disregard the recommendations of all three model building codes.
Our integrity is sure to be called into question as the code approval and enforcement authority having jurisdiction for willful disregard of the code recommendations.
The proven technology that allows the sprinkler systems to be easily integrated into the home plumbing systems has reduced the cost to as low as two dollars per square foot or less of the heated space in a new home.
While residential sprinklers may well be a good investment at the five to seven dollar cost that has been quoted by the homebuilders and sprinkler opponents, the failure to include them at a cost of less than two dollars is nothing short of foolhardy and could even be considered to be reckless.
Common sense demands the inclusion of these lifesaving systems purely from a life safety standpoint, but when one considers the insurance savings alone the inclusion of the sprinklers is a “no brainer.”
The fire sprinklers do not increase the overall cost of a home when one considers the tax base impact of providing these homes with fire protection. After all it is the homeowners who bear the cost of the infrastructure in their tax bills.
Residential fire sprinklers are a superior technology to fire stations and apparatus and they will provide a safer home than we could ever accomplish through the current methods.
One must consider the total number of homes that could be sprinkled for the ten plus million dollars that must be expended to construct just one fire station and that cost does not even consider the operating cost for that fire station, training, personnel, and equipment.
Such arguments as lack of adequate water supply, cost burden, inability of the plumbers to accomplish the work, non-combustible construction materials and methods and every other argument we have heard are unfounded and some border on the ridiculous.
I beg of you to do the research necessary to confirm the effectiveness of these life saving systems.
The inclusion of residential sprinklers in the 2009 code not only help overcome the eminent risk and danger of firefighting operations in lightweight construction framing, but they also force the large scale residential developments from reaping their profits and leaving the problem of protecting the residents of their developments to the tax payers.
All too often they then pack up and leave town to go elsewhere to develop even more unprotected neighborhoods. This code requirement forces them to accept responsibility for fire protection in their developments.
At the end of the day the residential fire sprinklers will serve to save lives and drastically reduce fire related property losses in South Carolina and they will do so for far less cost.
Their adoption will be no less effective in South Carolina than they are in such places as Scottsdale Az., Prince George County, Md. or the other four hundred communities that currently mandate the systems and prove their effectiveness.
There are absolutely no reasonable arguments to defer or omit the inclusion of residential fire sprinklers except to slightly reduce the cost of a new home temporarily at the cost of lives of South Carolina citizens.
The citizenry deserves better and we must not be deterred by the few who would choose to play politics with our very lives in order to increase their market share and profitability.
Thank you for your faithful diligence and service to the people of our great state.
FORENSICS
