>From Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Institute List today: On Feb. 8, PFESI and firefighters from across Pennsylvania rallied in the Capitol to support keeping sprinklers in the code for single-family detached homes.
Late last week we were concerned that HB 377 would pass this week. HB 377 will permanently remove the single-family sprinkler requirement from the code. Because of yesterday work by Pa. firefighters, the bill will not be voted on this week and there is a great inertest in a compromise. We will be working on compromise language soon. If you could not make the rally, your voice can still be heard. Go to PESLA.org and sign up. Then use PESLA to contact your state legislator and leadership. It will only take five minutes the alert is up and waiting for you to TAKE ACTION! Thank You to all who attended and help make February 8 2011 another great day for the Pennsylvania fire service. Our growing voice is being heard because of you. In the coming weeks there will be good news on Caner Presumption and the Grant Bill. Don Konkle Sen. Tim Solobay: Firefighters join Solobay to rally for sprinkler protection. Text of Feb. 9 press release. HARRISBURG, Feb. 9, 2011 -- Joined by dozens of firefighters from across Pennsylvania, state Sen. Tim Solobay this week urged colleagues and safety experts to band together to prevent special interests from watering down Pennsylvania's new sprinkler requirements. "Years ago we decided to keep politics out of it and leave the question of safety and building codes to the experts," Solobay said. "Now there are special interests who don't like what the experts have to say so they want to put the politics back in it. That's bad for our communities and it's downright dangerous to firefighters." In 1999, Pennsylvania replaced hundreds of local building standards with a statewide building code based on the internationally recognized Uniform Construction Code, and all of its updates. In 2009, the international code required sprinkler systems in all single family homes built after Jan. 1, 2011. Last year, Senate Republicans inserted an amendment into House Bill 1196, attempting to suspend the requirement, but the House failed to concur in the amendment and the bill died at the end of the session. This year, recently introduced House Bill 377 is another attempt to defy the experts and make an end-run around the construction code," said Solobay, who was a member of the House last session and was elected to the Senate in November. "We were able to stop this last year, and we're going to do it again," Solobay said. "Every day the firefighters of Pennsylvania answer the call for us and we will answer this call for them. We're not going to put politics and special interests back into safety requirements and we're going to make our firefighters as safe as we can." In addition to the firefighters, Solobay was joined by state Sen. Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia) along with state Reps. Mike McGeehan (D-Philadelphia), Bill Keller (D-Philadelphia) and Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia, Montgomery). _______________________________________________ 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)
