Have a young mother of three and an infant die in one and we'll see where the requirements go?
I hate to be cynical but it won't go anywhere because four people only matter to their immediate friends and family, are only titillating to the LOCAL news audience (as opposed to an airliner crash that titillates the entire nation), and are statistically inconsequential. Half the people we kill in fires die in their own homes and the public is blase' if not hostile to sprinklering. Certainly the NAHB will find some reason why it costs too much. Even amid the media hoopla over the release of the convicted Lockerby terrorist only the families of the immediate victims really cared (note that all media attention rapidly devolved completely to covering them as the story became a non-issue misstep on the part of that media). Even amid this horrible economic turn down, 25-40% of Americans without health coverage, and exponentially rising medical costs we still can't see past our greed and understand that primary medical care through emergency rooms for the uninsured costs the insured more in higher premiums and/or hospital fees that become necessary to pay for the treatment of those uninsured. At the same time we want to punish the poor for not having insurance as if health were a choice (and in cases where an individual chooses to partake in an unhealthy lifestyle choice such as using drugs like crack and tobacco you can argue that that is a choice) like choosing to drive without insurance. I'm not trying to be political here, just realistic and know I'll segue back into the original topic before even I consider this line of reasoning politics. The point about increasing requirements do to increasing events only holds (within 13D) if those events result in death: that is unless we want to change the scope to life-safety and mitigation of major injury, or life-safety, mitigation of major injury, and property protection. Otherwise these compartments are outside of the areas that are considered for protection as being necessary to ensure safe exiting and mitigation against flashover. On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 11:19 AM, Thom McMahon <[email protected]> wrote: > Could be a low incidence since when 13D was set up there were very few "Home > Elevators installed" and reporting of fires in them was nonexistent. As they > become more popular the statistics could change. We see 5 or more a year in > single family and duplex situations. (13D) Just as the info on "Beamed and > Vaulted ceilings was a more recent trend from the original intent of 13D > (8'-0" smooth flat ceilings)so too may elevators be. > > Have a young mother of three and an infant die in one and we'll see where > the requirements go? > > Just like I discuss with our local AHJ, existing condo's won't be > retrofitted with sprinklers unless a fire kills 10 or 20 Texas (Insert you > least favorite state) lawyers, and their partner survive. > > Thom McMahon, SET > Firetech, Inc. > 2560 Copper Ridge Dr > P.O. Box 882136 > Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 > Tel: 970-879-7952 > Fax: 970-879-7926 > > > > The supporting information is based on the premise of 13D protecting > 'principal occupancy areas' and NFIRS data showing origins and residential > fires. > Agreed that fires could originate anywhere .. Statistically they aren't > originating in the elevator areas of single family or two family dwellings > and resulting in fatalities. > > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://fireball.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) > -- Ron Greenman Instructor Fire Protection Engineering Bates Technical College Tacoma, WA Member: SFPE, ASCET, NFPA, AFSA, NFSA AFAA, WSAFM _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.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)
