I consider myself fortunate to witness fire service advocates' courage in the fight to ensure life safety in their community. In the residential fire sprinkler fight, the fire service is David against the homebuilders' Goliath. As a former firefighter, I have not been this proud of the fire service since 911 and other big natural disasters and incidents where our profession has shined. Paid or volunteer, we all share the passion for saving lives and we know that residential fire sprinklers will do just that.
And so, I want to share a letter written by a chief to Idaho legislators considering passing anti sprinkler legislation. Reading this letter, it becomes obvious that he has spoken from the heart. If we all take the time to put our thoughts on paper and write from our hearts what we know about the devastation of fire I think we have a fighting chance at beating Goliath. Will you take the time to do your part?
The letter follows in its entirety:
Dear Chairman Andreason and Honorable Members of the Senate Commerce Committee,
An opportunity is coming soon for each of you to prove with your vote that you support Idaho's first responders and the work they do to protect property and save lives. You will have an opportunity to reaffirm the belief that the public's safety and well being is the true purpose of government - to protect the public.
I have been incredibly blessed to have been able to serve for over 40 years in the fire service. About thirty of those years have been as a chief officer and fire marshal. I have dedicated my life to using fire codes to protect people from the terrors of uncontrolled fire and assorted disasters. That is why I ask you, please don't take away the most important tool I have, the use of the fire code. That tool, wisely used, has helped the city of Caldwell and our rural fire district to only have had one fire fatality in a structure over the the past nine years. This success has occurred while our population has nearly doubled! The Mayor, City Council, Fire Commissioners and good people of my community want that to continue. Our high-risk groups of younger children, economically disadvantaged, the elderly and those with disabilities are counting on me to be able to do my job of protecting them. Therefore, I am counting on you to not disappoint them, by voting NO on HB 202 and 218. Allow me and my fellow fire prevention associates to have the tools we need to do our job.
The question each of you should ask yourself is "why" were these bills written? What is the motivation for this legislation? What got damaged or who got killed because of fire sprinklers or questionable fire code enforcement? What exactly are these bills supposed to be fixing? I know the story. I've heard it from the Midvale citizen himself. I have empathy for that citizen who had a negative experience with a local fire authority and, what appears, in my opinion, to have been a decision that could have been negotiated into an equitable solution. If the problem is local, then fix it at the local level, but please don't throw the baby out with the bath water for the rest of the state in some attempt at justice for what happened in Midvale.
It isn't easy, or glamorous, or heroic work enforcing fire codes. We joke in the fire service that the code enforcement people - the fire marshals, the prevention officers, the fire chiefs - are the only ones in the fire department who don't get waved at with the whole hand when they drive down the street. It's not that we're bad people, but we can be quite unpopular at times. That's because we usually end up costing folks money trying to protect them, and the public, and our own firefighters from their carelessness, accidents, the stupidity of their neighbors or the occasional act of God. Yet truth be known, fire prevention folks save far more lives and property from fire losses than a whole fleet of firefighters on big red trucks.
Again, it is not easy work. Local fire authorities must balance their interpretations of the fire code with their fire department's response capabilities, local policies and politics, safety of the citizens and firefighters, hazards and risks, demographics, insurance ratings, fire experience, weather and a myriad of other issues. The ability to specify automatic fire sprinklers in residences is a tool that produces cost-saving construction tradeoffs. Fire sprinkler systems can allow development to occur in areas where it otherwise wouldn't be permitted. It seems that not being able to build at all would do far more harm to the home building industry than home fire sprinklers.
I am writing to express my strong opposition to HB 202 and HB 218. These bills would do to fire marshals what taking the fire engines away would do for the line firefighters. Local fire authorities know what is best for their communities when it comes to fire protection. This is where "local rule" truly shines. Please vote no on HB 202 and HB 218.
Thank you.
Douglas Brown, Deputy Chief / Fire Marshal
Caldwell City and Rural Fire Department
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