Greek house sprinklers discussed

By James Patrick Schmidt

Published Sept. 25, 2007

Speakers representing the Greek community voiced concerns with costs and the idea that the city is targeting the wrong group at a public forum on Monday that discussed a proposed city ordinance that would require fraternity and sorority houses to add automatic fire sprinkler systems by Dec. 31, 2012.

The Columbia Building Construction Codes Commission held the forum.

Cunningham and Associates, Inc. President Robert Cunningham, an architect who works on fraternity and sorority houses, asked the commission to specify in the ordinance that a 13R sprinkler system will always be acceptable. The ordinance currently states that the houses may have a 13 or 13R sprinkler system. The difference is a 13 sprinkler system includes sprinklers in attic areas, which are not insulated, requires special no-freeze systems and is more expensive.

A 13R sprinkler system does not include no-freeze systems.

Cunningham said a 13 sprinkler system can cost up to 60 percent more to install.

Cunningham also said sorority houses are statistically safer than fraternity houses and should therefore be excluded from the requirements.

There were non-student representatives of Alpha Phi and Delta Delta Delta sororities, as well as Alpha Gamma Sigma, Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega fraternities.

Each representative agreed the ordinance is unnecessary, but for different reasons.

Paula Bullock, a member of the Alpha Phi House Corporation Board, discussed reasons sorority houses are safer than off-campus housing.

"The differences with sororities is we do have rules," she said.

She said the biggest difference is that in a sorority house, the residents are not allowed to cook and are not allowed to have hotplates, candles or alcohol in the house.

Alpha Gamma Sigma fraternity adviser Larry Schuster said he was concerned with some of the wording of the ordinance, which allows the official conducting an inspection to decide if a 13 or 13R sprinkler is required in a house. Schuster said an official should not make the decision because it allows the officials to push their own agenda during that inspection.

Schuster also said he did not think changing the ordinance to include only fraternities should be allowed.

"I think our attorney might have a hard time passing an ordinance being gender-based," he said.

The public forum followed a presentation from Columbia Fire Department Battalion Chief Steven Sapp. The presentation highlighted reasons the automatic fire sprinkler systems should be required in fraternity and sorority houses.

He said in the past, fire safety education has focused on the elderly and children, but recently, there has also been an emphasis on young adults in the 16-to-25-year age group.

"Studies have shown that young adults, as they work on their independence, do not have a care and understanding of the dangers of fire," he said. "The feeling of invincibility, sleep deprivation, and experimenting with alcohol and other sensory deprivation drugs make this age group very vulnerable to fire injuries and deaths. Quite simply, this age group sometimes makes poor choices."

Sapp said that during responses to the local fraternity and sorority houses, there are cases of individuals not complying with fire alarms during both drills and other incidents.

Sapp used the example of Dominic Passantino, a member of Sigma Chi fraternity who died in a fire in the fraternity's house in 1999, to demonstrate the need for sprinkler systems.

Sapp also shared a video that included interviews with firefighters, Passantino's fraternity brothers and Passantino's mother.

The commission did not take action and will have further discussion at its next meeting in four weeks. The time and location of the meeting will be announced on the city of Columbia Web site.

— Senior Staff Writer Anna Koeppel contributed to this report