Fire sprinklers required in new homes in ’09

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If it’s autumn (although who can tell?), it must be fire season.

Perfect timing, then, for the International Code Council, the nation’s leading building-code body, to pass a residential fire sprinkler requirement for all new one- and two-bedroom houses and townhouses, beginning in 2009. The council included a grace period of two years to implement the new rule.

The requirement, passed early this week, applies to 45 states and the District of Columbia.

Fire deaths in the U.S. have declined during the last three decades because of the widespread use of household smoke alarms. Still, fires caused more than 3,000 deaths in 2007 and resulted in more than $14 billion in direct property loss, according to the National Fire Protection Assn.

‘We are thrilled not only because this moment has taken decades of demanding work to achieve,’ said Home Safety Council President Meri-K Appy, ‘but because it provides protection for potential victims of future fires.’

--Diane Wedner

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