After Fall Board, the Senior Officers appointed the Fire Sprinkler Strategic Response Task Force (FSSRTF) to develop recommendations on strategies and resources needed to assist NAHB members and HBAs in the fight against fire sprinklers.  The Task Force is composed of CC&S Committee members who have expertise on issues related to fire sprinklers and the code development process in general.

Since their appointment, the FSSRTF has held Conference calls on a bi-weekly basis.  Initially, the Task Force focused on strategies requiring immediate action due to time constraints.  This resulted in NAHB filing an appeal to ICC on Oct 30 calling for its Board of Directors to:

1.      Set aside the results of the ICC Final Action on RB64 and RB66 and call for reconsideration during the 2009/2010 ICC Code Development Cycle.

2.      Take immediate action to eliminate the influence of third-party funding in the voting process. 

3.      Undertake corrective action(s) to ensure that the ICC governmental consensus process is a fair and balanced process by restoring the principle of balance of interest in the selection of Governmental Member Voting Representatives.

Other organizations are also calling for reform.  In a letter to ICC, the Washington Association of Building Officials noted that “special interests dictated the outcome of the code changes” that will allow sprinkler manufacturers and installers “to reap millions, if not billions, of dollars in profits.”

NAHB has been notified that the appeal hearing will be conducted in person on Dec 11 at a Chicago O’Hare Airport area hotel.  The hearing will be open to the public (including the press), and any interested party will be permitted to participate/present information, provided they give ICC advance notification of their intention to do so.

A face-to-face meeting of the Task Force was held on Nov 3 & 4, where strategies for fighting fire sprinkler mandates at the national, state, and local levels were debated and recommendations developed.  Strategies were evaluated based on their potential to achieve one or all of the followed desired outcomes:

1.      Prevent or delay state or local adoption of the 2009 IRC fire sprinkler requirements.

2.      Overturn the code changes that mandate fire sprinklers in the IRC.

3.      Reduce the cost and/or address other builder concerns related to installing residential fire sprinklers.

4.      Discredit the voting that occurred in Minneapolis on the proposals mandating fire sprinklers in the IRC and take steps to prevent a reoccurrence.

A preliminary report on the Task Force’s recommended strategies has been prepared and provided to the Senior Officers at their Winter Exec meeting.  A final report of the Task Force’s recommendations will be completed by the 2009 IBS.

For more information, please contact for Steven Orlowski, NAHB Construction, Codes and Standards staff at 800-368-5242, x8303.
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