KPA Associates, Inc.

"The California State Building Standards Commission voted yesterday unanimously by a margin of 10-0 in favor of adopting the 2010 California Residential Code, which includes the 2009 International Residential Code as established by the International Code Council in September 2008.  The residential sprinkler requirement was voted into the 2009 IRC Code by building code officials from all over the U.S., gaining more than two-thirds of the vote.  This demonstrated that officials very clearly see the need to require sprinkler technology as a life-saving measure...

"The inclusion of residential fire sprinkler requirements in the 2009 IRC is a response to the growing fire problem in the U.S.  About 85 percent of all fires occur in the home and many are fueled by new “lightweight” construction and more flammable home contents. Smoke detectors are no longer enough in residential fire protection, as the time to escape a house fire has dwindled from 17 minutes 20 years ago to three minutes today.  This poses a severe risk to firefighters as they now have less time to do their job and save residents’ lives and property."

Ron Tov, AIA