This comes from Larry Miles and Tim Knisely; our Bellefonte (PA) Fire Prevention Task Force has been working on the same problem up here.
George Church Rowe Sprinkler http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020101 980.html?referrer=emailarticle Historic Charm Up in Smoke? Some Fear Annapolis's Downtown Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen By Raymond McCaffrey Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, February 2, 2007; Page B01 Visitors to Annapolis bask in the 300-year-old city's historic ambience. But some locals have come to eye nervously the state capital's downtown -- with its century-old buildings, charming shops and cozy restaurants -- as a tinderbox ready to go up in smoke. After a holiday-season fire at a downtown business in December, the second in as many years, city officials are seeking increased fire safety standards that would require more sprinklers and asking for more help burying power lines to forestall a doomsday scenario. A Dec. 18 fire at Chesapeake Trading Co. was the third serious fire along the historic district's Main Street in less than a decade. In that nightmarish vision, a fire -- much like those that damaged buildings in the past two years and another that swept along Main Street in 1997 -- would be sparked by faulty electrical wiring, igniting an upper-floor of a downtown business. Unimpeded by sprinklers, the flames would rip quickly through dry old wood, then engulf the entire building. Strong winds blowing off the Chesapeake Bay would fuel the fire as it quickly spread to one building, then another, then to the businesses and historic homes along a web of narrow streets with low-hanging utility wires that impede firefighters. "It's the downtown economy. It's the capital of the state. It's the Naval Academy. It's the harbor," said Alderman David H. Cordle Sr. (R-Ward 5). "There are potential catastrophic issues." The fear that Annapolis could be the scene of a debilitating downtown fire is fanning a furious debate about what needs to be done. Cordle introduced legislation last month that would require all commercial buildings in the city to install sprinklers with any change of use or during major renovations, but that standard is already in place for the historic district. The bill also would require sprinklers in new buildings and homes. Alderman Julie Stankivic (I-Ward 6) would take it a step further with legislation she is developing to make sprinklers mandatory in all commercial businesses in the historic district. That legislation, she said, would be tied to a wider initiative to upgrade water mains and other infrastructure in that part of the city. Stankivic said she has reached out to business owners through the Chamber of Commerce and hopes to include tax credits to help them install the sprinklers. "We can't afford to lose another building," she said. A similar proposal was advanced after the 1997 fire that destroyed two century-old buildings and took almost eight hours to extinguish. But many business owners balked at the costs: Adding sprinklers to a single building could cost $35,000 or more and require digging up the streets to upgrade water lines, city officials estimate. Larry Vincent, owner of Laurance Clothing at 232 Main St., said business owners know that losing a historic building is "irreplaceable," and that "with each little building we lose, we lose some of our marketing appeal." Vincent said he has "done everything short of sprinkling to ensure the safety of our property," but said he thinks the city should look for less expensive sprinkler systems or help merchants pool together to get a cheaper price from a contractor. The city has developed a loan program, but few businesses have taken advantage of it. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
