Following a 90-minute workshop by the State Fire Marshal’s Office on the value of sprinkling new residential construction, the Town Council voted 7-0 to send the matter to the Council’s Ordinance Committee. That committee voted 3-0 to support the proposal and has sent the matter back to the Council for a final vote.
The ordinance will take effect immediately and calls for all new residential construction to have sprinklers. The average cost for sprinklers is based on the square footage of the building. Over the past twelve years that cost has been about $2.08 per sq. foot. Those residences which are on city water will have a lower cost than those on private water. Homes with sprinkler systems will see a savings on their homeowners insurance.
The National Building Code and Life Safety Code has required one and two family homes to have sprinklers since 2011. Maine did not include that section when it passed the state fire code.
According to the Underwriters Laboratory which tests all types of appliances including extension cords, thirty years ago residents had approximately 17-20 minutes to escape a fire in their homes. Today, they have three minutes to escape due to the flammability of materials used in the construction of homes as well as those of furnishings.
Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre describes having a sprinkler system as “comparable to having a fire truck always in your home. The sprinkler system will react to a fire in under two minutes sending out 18-24 gallons a minute whereas the Fire Dept. hoses send out about 175 gallons per minute. Usually, one or two sprinkler heads which are located closest to the fire will control it and will do substantially less water damage than the Fire Dept. would have done in fighting the fire.”
In addition, it will take the Fire Dept. much less time on site to inspect everything after a fire where sprinklers are in use, ultimately leading to less manpower. Chief Lefebvre points out that Gorham still has substantial potential for growth as there is a great deal of vacant land in town. Sprinklers will decrease the impact on the Fire Department.
Lefebvre cited a fire back in the late 1980s at Sigma Nu, a fraternity house on School St. Bathroom renovations were being done and a soldering iron had sparked a fire in the wall. It became a four-alarm fire that took eight hours to address before it was contained by responding firefighters from Westbrook, Windham and Scarborough.
When the property was rebuilt, sprinklers were installed. Several years ago, there was an arson fire in a bathroom at Sigma Nu. Due to the sprinklers, it was out by the time the Fire Dept. arrived. They mopped up, replaced the sprinkler head, and were done in about 25 minutes.