The 2009 International Residential Code (IRC) includes a requirement for fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family houses. The measure was approved at final code hearings in Minneapolis, Minnesota in September of 2008, as the Journal of Light Construction reported (see " IRC Adopts Residential-Sprinkler Requirement," by Jon Vara, Dec08). But states that adopt national model codes are allowed to opt out of particular requirements, and the sprinkler requirement is now facing state-by-state and, in some cases, town-by-town political resistance from builders who say the cost is excessive and the benefits marginal. Builder advocacy has gotten the attention of state legislators, including lawmakers in some coastal states. In Tallahassee, Florida, the House Governmental Affairs Policy committee has voted unanimously for a measure that would require the state Building Commission to amend out the fire sprinkler provision when it adopts the 2009 IRC, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (" New home fire sprinkler mandate tabled," by Kathleen Haughney). The topic is also hot in Virginia, where builders are facing off against firefighters in an attempt to influence the Virginia Board for Housing and Community Development, which aims to adopt the latest model code in June, according to Richmond TV station WWBT (" Should sprinklers be required in all new homes?" by Melissa Correa). And in South Carolina, as in Florida, legislators are stepping in to force the building agency's hand. The state Building Codes Council has voted to adopt the IRC complete with fire sprinkler mandate, but South Carolina Senate Bill 1057 would reverse that decision, according to the Charleston Post and Courier (" Builders fight sprinkler proposal," by David MacDougall). South Carolina has seen nine fatalities from house fires in the first two months of 2010, reports the Hilton Head Island Packet (" Bill would make residential sprinkler systems optional, not required," by Laura Nahmias). And two dramatic and deadly fires remain fresh in the state's memory from two years ago, the Island Packet notes: "One, at a Charleston sofa store without a sprinkler system, killed nine firefighters in June, 2007. Four months later, six University of South Carolina students and one Clemson student perished in a house fire at Ocean Isle, N.C., where they were vacationing. The home had a smoke alarm but no sprinkler system." The Ocean Isle fire is covered in an archived USA Today account (" Fatal beach house fire likely accidental," by Oren Dorell; contributing: Jennifer Lindgren of WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C.; the Associated Press), in a detailed Wikipedia report
