Firefighters Fight Sprinkler Battle

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. - WYFF 4.com

It’s like having a firefighter inside your home, that's how fire chiefs describe the protection of fire sprinklers.

“It is there 24/7 on the scene already. It will control a fire setting and give you an opportunity to get out of that house,” said Chief Phill Jolley of the Pelham-Batesville Fire Department.

This week, there is a renewed effort to get those sprinklers into every new home built in South Carolina.

The international codes council passed the new home requirement with a start date of January, 2011. The South Carolina Building Codes Council still needs to approve it.

Home builders argue that the cost to them and home buyers is too great. Firefighters said that's a misconception. “The average home we are talking $2,000 to $3,000. Most people in new homes these days spend more on granite counter tops,” Jolley said.

Sixty four people have died in house fires this year in South Carolina, according to the state fire marshal.

Fire chiefs tell us sprinklers are 98 percent effective in protecting lives and property. “How much is a life worth,” Jolley said.

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