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What To Do While Away (a residential problem)

Peters Township, Pennsylvania requires residential sprinkler systems in certain types residences called “Patio Homes.” Some of the people who live in these types of homes and communities winter in Florida and do not maintain adequate heat in the home to prevent the system from freezing.  The town council has been considering ways to help residents prevent their fire sprinkler systems from freezing up.  One of which is to deactivate and drain the system.

“In an effort to assist the property owners, council presented a draft ordinance that would permit property owners to disconnect the sprinklers if the residents were to be out of town a month or more.“

I tend to agree that this is a viable option since residential systems are designed more for the purpose of slowing a fire down to allow the residents more time to evacuate.  In other words, fire sprinkler systems in homes are designed more for the protection of life than property.  If no one is around shut the system down and spare property owners the expense and hassle of converting to antifreeze.  [The Almanac]

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Galesburg, Illinois Fire Department Hosts Sprinkler Demonstrations

The Galesburg, Illinois Fire Department is hosting events (link to article) this weekend that will demonstrate the effectiveness of  fire sprinklers.  If you have never seen a demonstration like this, I highly recommend it.  If you are in the Galesburg, Illinois area go by and see this fascinating demonstration.  The demonstration times that are left this weekend are at the Galesburg “Great Balloon Race” today from five to eight, and Menards Sunday at noon.

There are also videos found here, here and here that will display the difference between a room protected with fire sprinklers versus a room that isn’t.

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Making Strides in Residential Sprinklers

Lots of good information from the Fire Sprinkler Initiative this month in regard to residential fire sprinklers.

California has been requiring residential sprinklers in one and two family dwellings since 2011.  At a recent event, fire sprinkler representatives demonstrated how the industry is striving for ways to make the systems more aesthetically pleasing if not invisible.

… the look and reliability of sprinkler heads will make them a viable option for more and more homeowners across the U.S., said Grady Smith, a sprinkler rep at the PCBC conference. “The latest versions of sprinklers are more aesthetically pleasing and can be installed in more places inside your home. It comes in any color so it’s almost invisible on the wall.”

Interesting article on the cost of installation for home fire sprinklers.

If you would like to join a coalition to help promote home fires sprinklers in your state click here to help spread the word through your social media and networking sites.

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Take Seriously ‘Buy American Act’

This article on Petersburg News out of Virginia reports a man sentenced to 5 months for the use of foreign material in a government project.  The article states the guy directed his employees to “grind off the foreign-made markings.”  Seems to me that it would have been cheaper to buy the American made materials after you take into account the time spent grinding off the markings.  Must’ve been real, real cheep foreign parts.

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Unusual Valve Indicator

The pictures are of an FDC and a device next to it that says, “Fire Dept. Indicator Valve.”  I’m assuming that there is a valve somewhere. The site glasses have lights (I guess they are lights) indicating whether the valve is open or closed.  The site glass on the left has condensate on the inside so it is hard to see in but I imagine it’s just like the right side.  There is no valve in close proximity.  This device sits about 50′ in front of the building that it belongs to.  I saw it in passing and did not have a chance to do a whole lot of digging into exactly what it controlled or was an indicator for.  I found it odd that it was right next to the FDC but thinking about it I don’t think it has anything to do with the FDC.  If you’ve seen this device or are familiar with it’s function drop in the comments section and share.

Thanks.

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Fire Sprinkler Academy

A colleague of mine sent me the following information regarding college credits that are going to be offered for training in the fire sprinkler business.    The great part is, you can take these classes at you’re home computer.  If you’re interested let them know.

Subject: Fire Sprinkler Academy

Could you send this on to EVERYONE you know that might be interested? We already have people from six states and the country of Portugal participating!

With much thanks,

Cecil Bilbo
Academy of Fire Sprinkler Technology, Inc.
OUR STUDENTS SAVE LIVES!

We are pleased to bring you a chance to earn COLLEGE CREDIT for online classes offered by the Academy and Parkland College. Please see the announcement below for more information. If you have any questions, send an email to info[at]sprinkleracademy[dot]com,  or visit www.sprinkleracademy.com

Fire Sprinkler Academy – College Credit classes ONLINE
Receive college credit towards the Sprinkler System Technology Degree on Tuesday and Thursday Evenings

Price: $250 per credit hour
Date: Begins Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: From your computer and phone
Phone: 217.649.0344
Email: info[at]sprinkleracademy[dot]com

Description
Earn College Credit on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6-8:30pm beginning AUG 25, 2009. Six hours of credit will be available through live online classes during the 2009 fall semester.
Register at www.sprinkleracademy.com

SST 001 Basic Hydraulics – Step-by-Step Fridays 1-3pm Central
Live Online Training in Sprinkler System Hydraulics (5 week class)

Price: $500 per student (ask about single site/multi-user discount)
Date: Begins Friday, September 11, 2009
Time: 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Location: Online with your computer and phone
Street: www.sprinkleracademy.com

Phone: 217-649-0344
Email: info[at]sprinkleracademy[dot]com

Description
Five Week class to learn all of the fundamentals of hydraulic calculations for fire sprinkler systems. This class will meet five times on Friday afternoons from 11 SEP to 09 OCT 2009. Everyone welcome.

Register at www.sprinkleracademy.com.

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S.C Fire Sprinkler Bills

While Highland Park, Texas is moving forward with fire sprinkler requirements in new homes, South Carolina is having trouble passing sprinkler mandates.

This article from The Post and Courier; Charleston.net explains that There are two separate bills being proposed. A House bill is being proposed that will provide tax incentive of 80% of the cost of the sprinkler system up to $50,000.00. The Senate is proposing a bill that will provide 50% of the cost of the sprinkler system; 25% from the state the other 25% from local property tax relief. The States portion would only be made available if the local governments offered a property tax credit.

Obviously there are proponents and opponents to this system. One opponent, Governor Mark Sanford, argues that;

‘Although the property-owners who install fire sprinklers under this legislation will be the primary beneficiaries of increased fire safety, the taxpayers will shoulder nearly all of the costs.'”

I’m not a tax expert and don’t claim to know the ins and outs of our tax system. Having said that, it makes sense to me that the “taxpayers” would shoulder some burden for business getting tax breaks because it’s money not going into the system to pay for infrastructure. On the other hand, the sprinkler systems, once they’re installed and working, will save citizens hundreds of thousands of dollars if a fire ever breaks out in one of the formerly unsprinklered buildings. So yeah, it definitely is an investment but the investment will pay itself back 10 fold if even one fire breaks out.

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Fire Cost in U.S. Exceed Cost of War

An article by Dawn Blunt in the Metrowest Newspaper Online Edition out of Brighton, Colorado compares the costs of the war in Iraq with the annual cost of fires in the United States. Dawn, the public safety educator for the Greater Brighton Fire Protection District, does a great job of comparing the very real and publicized costs of the war in Iraq against the very real and not-so-publicized cost of fire.

Try not to pick apart the politics and concentrate mostly on the point of the article. A few snippets;

Fires cost lives and huge sums of money for our country every day. Just because you don’t hear about all the costly fires and the deaths on the evening news doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Fire is costing Americans more each year than what Saudi Arabia makes on oil.

Between the start of the Iraq war and Dec. 10, 2007, America spent $150 billion per year on the war. The cost of the war on a family of four is estimated to be about $20,900 from 2002 to 2008. The estimated cost of fire is $22,720 for that same family of four for six years. The number of soldiers killed in Iraq is now about 3,886, which is roughly the same number of fire deaths in America every year.

Enjoy!