IAFC’s code involvement turns to sprinklers in the Southeast
A proposal to require automatic sprinklers in two types of residential structures more than three stories high is before the Southern Building Code Congress. Hotels and motels with 20 or more guest rooms, and multifamily dwellings with 15 or more units would have to have sprinklers installed while the buildings are under construction.
The proposal is the work of a recently revivified Safety Codes and Standards Committee of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. [See “Fire chiefs’ role makes Uniform Building Code the first to require sprinklers in low-rises” in Dispatches, Fire Engineering, November 1987.]
It’s scheduled for a July vote which, if affirmative, would make the requirement part of the Southern Standard Fire Code. That code is in effect in seven Southeastern states.
