Letter to the Editor on Fatal Fire: Sprinklers Could Have Made a Difference

Editor's note: , Commissioner of the New Jersey State Fire Safety Commission, submitted the following to Patch, after reading about the recent fatal fire in Carmel. It claimed the lives of Larchmont Police Capt. Thomas Sullivan, his wife and the couple's two teenage daughters. Here's what Lightbody had to say:

Dear Editor,

This is very tragic and should not have happen. How many more needless losses do we have to have before New Jersey, New York and other states adopt the required sprinkler code for all new one and two-family dwellings? I have been in the fire service for over 50 years, and served as a chief of fire code enforcement and prevention for 37 and a half of those years. We been advocating code adoption for sprinklers in these homes for better than 30 years, as we've seen building technology change to lightweight construction, including laminated beams. We've been complaining over the past 15 years about lightweight construction under fire conditions and early collapses, given little time for the residence to evacuate. This is just not a threat to the occupants of these dwellings, it has also been a loss of life and injury to our fire service personnel.

The International Code Council has realized the need for sprinklers after many instances with lightweight construction under fire conditions, and had adopted the sprinkler codes and standards to require sprinklers to be installed in all new one and two-family dwellings. Yet the states keep watering down the code, refusing to adopt that section for sprinklers. The fact remains that this family and others may be alive today had they had sprinklers. The International Builders Association should be ashamed of themselves, and state government for listening to International Builders Association.

— Commissioner John F. Lightbody