AGENDA #5c
to: Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager
from: Dan Jones, Fire Chief
J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director
Matt Lawrence, Fire Marshal
subject: Fire Protection outside the Town’s Urban Service Boundary
date: April 14, 2008
The purpose of this report is to detail and explain findings following research into the matter of inadequate water for fire protection in the area outside the Urban Service Boundary.
In recent Council Meetings, Fire Department Staff expressed concern regarding approval of development outside the Town’s Urban Service Boundary, which is not served by Orange Water and Sewer Authority and therefore does not have public water and fire hydrants. The concern of the Fire Department is the lack of adequate water supply for fire protection in this area, creating safety and effectiveness obstacles for fire suppression in single-family homes, subdivisions and other structures. Further, without adequate fire protection, residents of these areas would face higher insurance rates. The Council asked the staff for additional information about options for possible actions the Council could take to address this matter.
The NC Fire Code (2006 Edition) as adopted by the Town of Chapel Hill in Town Code Section 7-15 provides specific requirements for water supply for fire protection. The intent of the Fire Code, as described in Section 101.3 is to establish the minimum requirements consistent with nationally recognized good practice for providing a reasonable level of life safety and property protection from the hazards of fire. Also, this Code’s intent is to provide safety to firefighters and emergency responders during emergency operations.
Section 508.1 of the 2006 NC Fire Code sets forth the requirement for fire protection water supply. It states, “An approved water supply capable of supplying the required fire flow for fire protection shall be provided to premises upon which facilities, buildings or portions of buildings are hereafter constructed or moved into within the jurisdiction.”
Appendix B of the NC Fire Code has been adopted by the Town in Section 7-15 of the Town Code of Ordinances. It identifies the amount of water required for homes and buildings to provide for adequate fire protection. Although not a part of the standard NC Fire Code, by adoption, it becomes effective and enforceable as part of the Town Code of Ordinances. Dependant upon the size and type of construction used, Appendix B requires fire flow for average to large homes of 1,000 to 1,750 gallons per minute. This would indicate the amount of water that fire responders would need to have access to and be able to use to effectively extinguish a fire in these structures.
During recent review of proposed development within the Town’s Extraterritorial Planning Jurisdiction, the Town’s Fire Marshal has identified deficiencies in the coverage by fire hydrants outside the Urban Services Boundary. Because of the lack of fire hydrants, or other water sources, the required fire flow is not present, nor would the responding fire agencies be able to provide adequate water for fire control. Under the terms of the 2001 Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary Agreement executed by Orange County, the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, public water service by OWASA cannot be extended into this area.
As a potential solution to fire safety concerns, the Town’s Fire Department and Planning Staff presented recent applicants interested in development in this area with the option of installing fire sprinkler systems in the homes and buildings proposed. This option is allowed under Section B105 of the NC Fire Code and allows for a 50 percent reduction in required fire flow. Sprinkler systems are designed to control and/or extinguish small fires before they become large fires that require a greater water supply to extinguish them. Residential fire sprinklers provide immediate response to fires, which increases the survivability of residential fires by the occupants.
Since the public hearing on the proposed Estates at Oxford Subdivision on January 28, 2008, the Fire Department has worked closely with the applicant to provide explanation of our concern and education on the benefits of the fire sprinkler recommendation. On February 25, 2008 the application for the Estates at Old Oxford Subdivision was approved by the Town Council with a stipulation to provide residential sprinklers in each home. On March 10, 2008, the developer for South Grove, a second development outside the Urban Service Boundary, stated his intentions of providing residential sprinklers in each of the proposed homes.
COUNCIL REQUEST
At the request of Council during the January 30, 2008 discussion of potential legislation, the Town Attorney and Fire Department prepared a Resolution and Ordinance addressing this issue which would have required the installation of fire sprinklers in areas not served by an approved water supply meeting fire flow standards. Under North Carolina General Statute 143-138(e), this Ordinance would require the approval of the NC Building Code Council prior to becoming enforceable. After review of this proposed ordinance on February 12, 2008 by the Chief Fire Code Consultant for NC Department of Insurance the recommendation was made to not proceed with this ordinance for the following reasons:
1) Currently, the NC Building Code Council is considering a state-wide change to the NC Residential Code, which would provide for and require residential fire sprinklers in single-family dwellings. This code change, if adopted, would be included in the 2009 NC Residential Code revision. It is currently the practice of the Building Code Council to favor a comprehensive State Code, rather than allowing for and approving local variances and ordinances, unless drastic circumstances exist. NC Department of Insurance staff advised against petitioning for a local ordinance for this reason and the potential for denial.
2) With the adoption of Appendix B (Fire Flow Requirements) of the NC Fire Code under Town Code section 7-15, the Town has adopted standards regarding fire flow requirements. Through this adoption, the Town has the ability to deny applications for development at site plan review based on the lack of sufficient water supply for fire protection. As stated earlier, Appendix B does recognize sprinkler systems as an alternative to allow for a 50 percent reduction in required fire flow. Therefore making sprinkler systems an option for developers to meet the required fire flow.
On March 5, 2008 Town Fire, Legal, Planning and Inspections staff met with Chief Fire Code Consultant Richard Strickland, from the NC Department of Insurance to collaborate on this issue and determine a course of action for the Town. The recommendation from this group is as follows.
Following a comprehensive review of measures to address concerns regarding the lack of water for fire protection in areas outside the Urban Service Boundary, we recommend that applicants pursuing approval of subdivisions and planned development provide documentation indicating compliance with the fire flow standards of Appendix B of the NC Fire Code. If compliance with those requirements cannot be achieved, residential sprinklers should be encouraged to receive the allowable reduction in fire flow. If the applicant declines to install sprinklers, we believe the application could be denied.
The acceptance of the reduction in fire flow by the applicant, by providing residential sprinklers, would be submitted as a condition of Council approval, and would be indicated on the approved final plat for the project. As a result, purchasers of these lots and builders would be on notice that new structures would be required to have sprinkler systems installed during initial construction.
We believe that this process will provide the fire protection needed using tools and policies already in place.