Debate to rain down on sprinklers

A South Portland ordinance change would require systems in all new buildings, including residences

SOUTH PORTLAND — After almost two years of preparation, rules mandating the installation of residential sprinkler systems could end up in front of South Portland city councilors for a first vote as soon as Dec. 10.

In what Fire Chief Kevin Guimond  called a “complete repeal and replace” of the city’s fire protection and prevention ordinance, any new construction in South Portland would require installation of a sprinkler system. Although existing homes are exempt, any renovation that increases a building’s living space by 50 percent would likewise trigger installation.

Sprinkler systems already are required in South Portland wherever a home is located more than 500 feet from a hydrant.

At an Oct. 10 workshop, the City Council appeared ready to back the requirement. The only significant debate on the issue was on whether the city should encourage compliance by waiving building permit fees in homes requiring sprinklers.

“If the cost for this comes out of a homeowner's wallet, we’re all for it, but if it comes out of our wallet, we hesitate,” said Councilor Jerry Jalbert, who pushed the incentive idea. “I think that says a lot about how we act as a community sometimes. If we really believe in this, we as the city of South Portland should put our money where our mouth is, because if people wanted to so this, they’d be doing it already voluntarily.”

“We might lose $150, but we get someone who puts in a sprinkler system,” said Councilor Rosemarie De Angelis. “This to me is a real small thing we can give to encourage them to do something that could be a real benefit."

However, Councilor Alan Livingston suggested that anyone installing a sprinkler system would save at least the cost of a building permit in reduced home insurance premiums.

According to Guimond, a sprinkler requirement would bring the city in line with national fire codes. Similar rules already are in place in Portland, Scarborough and Gorham, while Westbrook has recently vacillated, first putting in place sprinkler rules then adding a number of exemptions.

For Guimond, the issue is strictly one of safety. A “flashover” – the time it takes for a room to become fully engulfed on flame once a fire starts – can occur in as little as six minutes, he said. However, it takes firefighters 10 minutes, on average, to arrive on scene, following the initial call to 911.

“If you’re in a flashover, you’re not going to survive that,” said Guimond, adding that sprinklers, which can kick in as little as two minutes after a fire starts, would be required “any place you lay your head” in a home.

“Survivability is 95 percent if a sprinkler system is there and working,” added Deputy Chief Miles Haskell.

According to Haskell, 78 percent of fires and 80 percent of fire-related deaths occur in residential structures, which are targeted in the new ordinance.

“That usually happens when people are sleeping, or defenseless,” said Haskell.

However, neither Guimond nor any member of the council could recall the last time someone died in a house fire in South Portland.

“But it could happened tomorrow,” said Mayor Patti Smith.

“It’s a policy decision of how much risk do you want to accept day in and day out in this city,” Guimond told the council. “We cannot pay to have a firefighter sitting in everyone’s home tonight, so we have smoke detectors. We try to balance that risk and now technology has changed.”

According to Guimond, installation of a sprinkler system under the proposed ordinance (which would allow plastic PEX pipes) would range from $1.25 to $1.50 per square foot, or roughly $3,000 to $5,000 added to the cost of the new, average-sized house in South Portland.

“We have to be honest, people are spending more on sprinkler systems for their lawn then they’d spend for sprinklers in their house,” said Guimond.

“I’m in favor of going forward with these protections,” said Smith. “I don’t think it’s a big hit to the wallet and I don’t hear that development has slowed down in the communities that have enacted it.”

But not everyone agrees, including some who build homes for a living. Larry Duell owns Father & Son Builders in Lebanon and sits as president of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Maine, a group that has fought making sprinklers part of the statewide building code.

“So far, only two states, California and Maryland, have mandated that,” he said in June, when the sprinkler mandate first appeared before the council. “The other 48 states have repealed it out of the [national] code. That tells you, basically, that no one in the country wants it.

“Our biggest concern is the affordability issue,” said Duell. By his estimate, sprinkler systems cost between $4,000 and $8,000 – adding about 3 percent to the cost of a $200,000 “entry-level home.”

“That takes affordability for the purchase of a house away from many Mainers,” said Duell. “It knocks a lot of people right out of the housing market, especially with the tight credit market right now.”

Duell said he gives his customers the option of adding a sprinkler system and, to date, “not one person has ever taken it.”

The reason, he said, is that hard-wired smoke detectors – which are required under the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code – are “99 percent effective.”