Fire chief calls for residential sprinklers after fire destroys home
According to a report on BurlingtonFreePress.com, the chief of the Colchester Center (VT) Fire Company is re-issuing his call for local lawmakers to require automatic sprinkler systems in new homes. This comes after crews spent nearly six hour battling a blaze that eventually destroyed a local home.
The fire started in a shop room, but officials have yet to determine the cause, Chief Mike Chmielewski told the newspaper. “If they had residential sprinklers, the house would probably be standing today,” he said.
The report says that last October, local lawmakers shelved the fire chiefs’ proposal because opponents questioned the relative benefits of sprinklers and said the sprinkler mandate would have boosted the cost of new housing. According to a report from the Fire Protection Research Foundation, the cost of installing sprinkler systems to the home builder averages $1.61 per sprinklered square foot.