The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is lauding the International Code Council (ICC) after its recent vote to require all new one- and two-family homes to be equipped with home fire sprinklers.
NFPA President James Shannon says the vote is a major step toward reducing deaths and destruction caused by home fires.
“Getting home fire sprinklers in new homes today means we will provide a life-saving benefit for generations to come,” Shannon says. “It is an issue we can all get behind to lessen the fire problem in this country.”
More than 70 percent of ICC members supported the mandate, which is slated to appear in the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC). NFPA supplied testimony in support of the provision prior to the vote at a recent hearing.
More than 80 percent of people that die in fires are killed in home fires, yet the chances of someone dying in a home fire are reduced by one-half to two-thirds when sprinklers are present, according to the NFPA.
Residential sprinklers are required in the 2006 editions of the following NFPA codes: NFPA 1, Uniform Fire Code®; NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®; and NFPA 5000®, Building Construction and Safety Code®.
