An AFSA (American Fire Sprinkler Association) meeting was held on March 25th, 2009, and it showed that there is finally some action being taken in voicing our offense to the bill.  It was brought to my attention that this same mandate is in the process of being passed in 13 other states in the US, and was just defeated in Illinois!  It came down to a 6-3 vote in committee, and was done so by people calling, writing, and informing their communities and representatives about the lives that are threatened by the intent of the bill.  Here is a link to the press release concerning Illinois' victory.

There is a fantastic website called the Fire Sprinkler Initiative, and it's a great tool for informing those who may not know the true benefits of residential fire sprinkler systems, and the risks taken when they are not installed.  Click here to visit the site, and make sure to visit the "Legislative Alert" portion of the page. 

In the next week we will be printing a mass amount of informative postcards to send to our state/county representatives so that they can truly be aware of the core issues that surround this bill.  We have confidence and hope that all of our efforts won't be in vain, and that this bill will be defeated in not only Arizona, but across the country as well. 

Just as a general update, here's a summary of the progress the bill has made thus far:

Azcentral.com (aka The Arizona Republic) has a few articles that directly reference this bill, and there are many comments being made for and against its intent.  You can register to be able to make your own comments, or you can just follow along with what people are saying. 

Check out these articles:

Bill would ban communities from requiring fire sprinklers

Don't snuff cities' efforts to prevent home-fire deaths

Residential sprinklers are needed

This breaking news story was all over the Arizona news stations this morning (Monday, 2/9/09), and it has us asking a few questions. 

The residence is located in North Scottsdale, and is a fairly new home, most likely built no earlier than 2004.  By those two factors alone, it should have had fire sprinklers installed based on Scottsdale's Fire Code.  If this home did have fire sprinklers installed, why didn't they go off?  If it didn't have any sort of system installed, or if the sprinklers were defunct how did it pass inspection and retain permits?  They are reporting that the fire started in the fireplace, and that the living room was allegedly filled with smoke when they evacuated the house.  Since this fire consumed and ruined this 6,000 sq ft home, it makes us wonder if there were any sprinklers throughout the house at all.  If that's the case, then this unfortunate fire is an obvious example of why newer homes should require fire sprinkler systems, and shouldn't be taken lightly.  

If you have any information on the Ancala gated community where this house was located, or anything else pertaining to this story, be sure to leave a comment!