Tenn. Chief Defends Code Stance Jun 16, 2009 5:35 PM Fire Chief Magazine By Janet Wilmoth
Would a fire chief with 36 years of fire service experience, 25 of them as a fire marshal, oppose the new 2009 ICC code for residential sprinklers in his community? According to Tennessean.com, Spring Hill (Tenn.) Chief Jim Swindle is asking city leaders to rethink a proposal that would require sprinklers in newly built homes, but adds that he supports sprinklers in general. "I whole-heartedly support sprinklers. Always have and always will," he said. "At no time did I say I didn't support sprinklers." Swindle supports the 2006 code, but would not recommend the most recent code update, deferring to the state. He said he contacted Asst. State Commissioner Jim Pillow and was told that the state of state was going to adopt the 2006 codes and leave it up to the local jurisdictions to decide on the 2009 code. Consequently, Swindle did not recommend the new residential sprinkler code to his mayor and board of aldermen, in order to be "in the same song book" with the state. "By Spring Hill not being an exempt city we have a tremendous amount of construction jobs going on that the state has to review," Swindle said. "If we are in the 2009 and the state is in the 2006 code, what code do you think the state will enforce? Spring Hill would not have any authority, as the contractors would just go right over our head." However, the state has not yet voted on whether to adopt the 2009 ICC sprinkler codes, according to Pillow. "It has not been determined," Pillow said. "That will be done by rule-making within the next three to six months." Tennessee is the only state that has a statute that protects the right of a locality to adopt its own sprinkler ordinance. There are 15 states that can pre-empt, but according to Pillow, "Tennessee is the only state that they will not be pre-empted." Over my entire career, I have never not supported sprinklers," Swindle said. "But I have always stayed in direct correlation with the state fire marshal's office. Neither the construction community nor the political community had anything to do with this decision. It was a decision based on comments from the state." http://firechief.com/leadership/ar/ICC-code-opposition-20090616/ John Drucker Jr CET Fire Protection Subcode Official Fire/Building/Electrical Inspector Borough of Red Bank, NJ CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY: This email message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged and confidential, nor is it, unless specifically stated, intended to be relied upon by any person or persons other than the individual or entity named above and no warranties or representations are made or intended to persons or entities not named above. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone, return this message to the address above and delete all copies. Thank you. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
