Google, and a little more digging:
Testimony by the nation's top fire-safety official that sprinklers and smoke detectors would not have saved lives in a fire at the Great Adventure amusement park in New Jersey has touched off a dispute among officials. Many officials say the testimony by Chester Schirmer, chairman of the National Fire Protection Association, has undermined efforts by local fire-protection groups to win legislation mandating the use of sprinklers and smoke detectors. ''I think it has set back the cause of sprinkl... * * * IN THEIR DEFENSE- Now realize that in 1984, if you were asked if a group of people trapped in a foam padded group of 17 interconnected tractor trailers could have been saved by what would have probably been standard response sprinklers, the answer may well have been "No" just as seat belts or an airbag wouldn't save your life if you were running your Pinto into a concrete barrier at 90 miles an hour. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, doesn't mean sprinklers and seat belts (couldn't help myself) aren't a worthwhile addition to life safety- just that conditions were so ripe for disaster, the WHEN not IF occurred. But the above is in ref to the 1984 fire. I am NOT an FPE, but I did have lunch with one yesterday. And I have trouble thinking that a group of elderly are going to turn into first responding heroes with hose streams- and I'm assuming there is an automatic water supply that is a- strong enough to do something to a fire b- not so powerful that my 89 year old mother could handle the hose stream c- they could kick in the door to get into the affected unit d- while all the other retirees calmly walk down 25 flights of stairs I took my favorite #14 committee member to dinner in La Jolla (sp?)and it IS a pricey neighborhood. But how big are these units? 1,000 SF? 10 sprinklers? Auto water supply right in the middle of the building for connection of a floor zone? Unless the walls are poured with 2" rebar spacing in all rooms, and they empty a floor and put them up at the = to the Ritz, it's tough to imagine a cpvc/deco retrofit being $3,000 a head when you're doing 25 floors of it. Maybe they included 10 years of inflation for an extended retrofit schedule? Glc Calmed down, but yes, when I got back to the office at 10 I ran thru my emails and then went home at 11. After 50, the 3AM'ers are not as often, and I'm not allowed to touch the cadstations anymore. Besides, some are in use at 3 am, someone is following in my footsteps. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
