Rich Civic Times
GARDEN CITY, Utah.
June 11, 2015. Mike Wahlberg, Garden
City fire chief, and Zan Murrey, city engineer, suggested that it would be in the
best public interest to require sprinklers in large structures. It needs to be based on square footage rather
than whether or not they are for short term rentals or not.
“As we fought the fire on Kimball Lane, we learned how
dangerous it could be getting a fire out in a very large building. At one point we thought there was a victim
because there was an unaccounted for worker and an empty car was parked there.
That was a huge building to try to search and there were few air pockets. Even with all the fire department help from
other counties it is a dangerous and almost impossible task to save someone in
a very large building,” said Wahlberg.
Wahlberg said, “once a building reaches a certain size
sprinklers should be required. The
footprint of a two level building of 8,000 building with multiple rooms making
it almost impossible to search. These
large homes built as private homes are often going to be short term rentals in
the end.” There are 332 short term
rental facilities in Garden City.
Murray said that other cities are requiring sprinklers
because they are in fire danger areas near wild lands. Boulder County requires
sprinklers on 4500 square foot buildings because they are worried about
wildfires. It is harder to control a
large building fire from breaking out to other homes and empty dry lands.
Sprinklers slow down the fire based on size and occupancy and helps people get
out. Searching 10 to 20 bedrooms is
dangerous to the firemen. Sprinklers
would not have been operational during the construction phase, but this fire
was a warning for the future.
Murray said that the International Building Code (IBC) any
building over 3500 sq ft has to have sprinklers, but Utah is fighting it,
thinking it is too restrictive, but the city can be more restrictive if needed. Wahlberg said it almost eliminates the loss of
life. It also reduces insurance rates. Mayor Spuher suggested doing more research on this.
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