The Committee is providing education to personnel from our member companies, governmental agencies, legislators, builders, developers, realtors, and citizens regarding the facts about residential fire sprinklers and the advantages they offer.
Our partners in this effort include the Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal, the Maryland Fire Chiefs Association, the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute (MFRI), the Fire Prevention Committee of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association, the NFPA, the NFFF, the NFSA, and most county firefighter associations.
Committee Achivements
HB 366 and SB 602 (2012) were signed into law by Governor O’Malley and became effective on October 1, 2012. This law strengthens the residential fire sprinkler requirements for new homes and will disallow local jurisdictions from opting out of residential fire sprinkler provisions of the Maryland Building Performance Standards.
A bill was introduced in the 2016 Legislative Session to allow counties to “opt-out” of the residential fire sprinkler requirements of the 2015 International Residential Code as adopted for the state by the DHCD. With the help of the Maryland Fire Service, we were able to keep this bill from ever making it to the floor of either house of the legislature. The MSFA Legislative Committee and officers, the Maryland Fire Chiefs, the Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal, the NFPA, the NFFF, and some county associations were leading the efforts to squash this bill.
