CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – During a special session meeting on the Frosty Morn PUD rezoning, the City Council also took up an ordinance requiring sprinklers in “stacked duplexes.”
After a presentation from the assistant chief fire marshal, as well as a lengthy discussion, the City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance 9-3.
What’s affected by ordinance, conversation of cost
Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Mike Reed addressed the council on the importance of the configuration of sprinklers in stacked duplexes. He said there have been a lot of questions surrounding this proposal, which he appreciates, but wanted to address the confusion on the front end.
“We’re not talking about anything in a single- or two-family residential scenario, configuration, anything other than a duplex in a stacked configuration.” He said this ordinance wouldn’t affect townhomes, nor a horizontal configuration of a single duplex, triplex or quadplex.
“Let me say too that cost has been a leading conversation,” Reed said. “Although I appreciate that, it is not the bullseye of the target that I live on. You don’t want it to be for your fire code official.”
Reed said that he took an oath to serve the City of Clarksville as their fire official, which includes looking out for the life-safety features in citizens living environments. “
Sprinkler data presented to City Council
Reed said that around 75-80% of U.S. civilian fire deaths occur in homes. He said that the vast majority of these deaths occur in homes without automatic sprinklers, and the primary cause of death is smoke inhalation due to rapid fire growth.
“Sprinklers activate in over 90% of fires large enough to trigger them,” Reed said. “When they activate, sprinklers control or extinguish fires in 97% of cases. Fire death rates are reduced by up to 80-90% in sprinkler protected buildings.”
He also said property damage is reduced 55-70% when sprinklers are present in a building, most fires are actually controlled by a single sprinkler head, and that early control reduces fire spread as well as water damage.
He then shared a video by Medford Fire-Rescue in Medford, Oregon, that depicted a side-by-side comparison with one room having a sprinkler system, while the other did not.
“An average residential fire sprinkler activates at about 155 degrees,” Reed said. “At two minutes the unprotected dwelling there reached a flashover temperature of 2,000 degrees. You live in a community where your fire department is rated with an ISO-2. There is only one rating better than that.
“Even at a rating of ISO-2, at two minutes without some kind of notification, which a sprinkler activation would provide to the fire department, at two minutes that fire in the middle of the night, or in an occupied/unoccupied dwelling during the middle of the day, would have to be realized before we would be called.”
Reed said on CFR’s best day, even if they were across the street, they wouldn’t be able to set up tactically in time, as it would take two to three more minutes. “I think that the video stands for itself,” he said.
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Examples of stacked duplex configurations in Clarksville
Reed said that an example of a stacked duplex configuration in Clarksville would be the Watson Pointe Complex, as well as West Fork Crossing.
“The consideration that’s being given to that is the floor and ceiling assembly, build-quality and the vertical wall build quality,” he said. “In that configuration, if we remove sprinklers, the fire department views that tactically, and by every other means, as an eight-unit apartment complex.”
Reed then shared an AI photo of a fire simulated to take place at Watson Pointe. “Notice the wooden-frame construction of the stairs. I want you to put you and your family in the top unit shown on the right. Your neighbor underneath you has a fire that goes out their front door in the middle of the night. You don’t have sprinkler system, so you don’t have any kind of occupant notification devices.
“Nothing is going to tell you that you are on fire until you are awakened by the smoke and the heat. In the meantime, the stairs are burning away. So, potentially by the time you realize that there is a fire in the unit underneath you … by the time you open your door, you are left with a burned-down means of egress, and your family potentially has no way of escape.”
Reed said that in this environment, if sprinklers were implemented, there would be a sidewall sprinkler head on the exterior of both of the doors, which would mitigate the emergency. He also said that the likelihood of the fire coming out of the downstairs unit is very little, because there would be sprinklers in the interior as well.
Is there another way to address both safety and affordability?
Councilperson Tm Chandler said he has a hard time weighing the cost of a sprinkler system against the cost of a life. “I know our fire department is one of the best and (most) professional departments in the country,” he said. “I just think that this is something that we have to do to protect our citizens.”
Councilperson Eric Claunch said he met with several builders in the area and received a price breakdown of what the move would end up costing them. “It adds an additional $6.44 per square,” he said. He calculated that’s an additional $10,000 to the price of a residence. “$10,000 for a life. It’s not a question in my opinion.”
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Councilperson Brian Zacharias said he appreciates the problem being brought to the City Council’s attention. “I had not considered the possibility that somebody’s egress roof would be burned away in a situation like this,” he said.
However, Zacharias pointed out Clarksville’s affordable housing issue and asked if there are other ways to protect the lives of residents living in stacked duplexes.
“If I thought this was the only way to prevent loss of life, this is an easy yes. But in the face of the different information we’ve been getting from the people that work in the industry; the invoices people have been referring to; we just got today. Then, we hear a response right before we have to vote on this. Since we’re voting today, I have to be a no. But like I said, if I believe this is the only way that we could prevent or mitigate the risk of a loss of life, then it’s an easy vote. I’m not convinced yet.”
Councilperson Ambar Marquis said she also believes there may be another path forward to not only address safety but affordability as well. For this reason, as she did at the Public Safety Committee meeting when the proposal was first brought forward, she said she’ll be a no vote.
Councilperson Keri Lovato said as someone with children, she can promise that it takes longer than 40 seconds to get them up, dressed and out of the house. “As Chief Reed pointed out, it takes minutes for the fire department to get there, so I’m having a hard time visualizing what can be safer than sprinkler systems in these stacked duplexes. I also want to remind the council that this change in policy literally mirrors a requirement for apartment buildings.”
First reading approved, what’s next
After several more in-depth questions and discussions, the City Council approved the first reading 9-3, and it will return next week during the council’s regular session meeting on Thursday.
Voting for the ordinance were Claunch, Carlos Peters, Chandler, Jerry Haywood, Jimmy Brown, Stacey Streetman, Joe Shakeenab, Keri Lovato and Mayor Joe Pitts. Voting against were Zacharias, Marquis and Travis Holleman. Councilperson Wanda Smith was absent.
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