A state mandate requiring indoor sprinklers in new homes
4,500 square feet and larger goes into effect in January. Homebuilders are
grumbling about the new rule, calling it costly and unnecessary. But fire
officials welcome it as a measure of relief at a time when they are struggling
to recruit and retain volunteers.
Help for firefighters
Fire officials differ on builders’ cost estimates for
sprinklers and point out that over time homeowners can recoup the upfront
expense through lower insurance premiums. They also say that while smoke alarms
can alert homeowners, they don’t protect houses or belongings until
firefighters arrive.
“There’s nothing worse than standing in the yard with an
owner as they watch firefighters try to put a fire out that’s already fully
involved — shooting out windows and doors — by the time we get there,” said
Marilyn Arnlund, deputy fire marshal in Maple Grove.
Arnlund and other fire officials say modern homes are
susceptible to fires that can spread quickly, mostly because of their
lightweight wood ceiling trusses and floor joists. Open floor plans and
petroleum-based construction materials and furnishings found in newer homes
also contribute to fires that can burn hot and fast.
This summer, Chaska Fire Chief Tim Wiebe led city and
state officials on a tour of a large house that was ravaged by a fire in late
May. The occupants escaped unharmed, but the house was a total loss. The fire
started in the attached garage and spread to the house, where it had a burst of
combustion known as flashover.
“The furnishings, the kitchen cabinets, just vaporized,”
Wiebe said. “We were very fortunate that nobody, including our firefighters,
was in there.”
He said he’d like to see sprinklers in all homes because
they provide a way to extinguish fires or keep them small. That’s important as
departments like his cover a growing number of households even as it becomes
more difficult to recruit and retain replacements for the stream of baby
boomers now retiring.
Chaska’s fire department is supposed to have a staff of
44 but currently has a volunteer force of 35, Wiebe said. None of Maple Grove’s
five stations is fully staffed, according to Arnlund.
In Eagan, where fire department staffing is at its lowest
level since the late 1980s, the city is considering a plan to go from five
stations — which it says it cannot fully staff — down to three. For now, it is
bridging part of the gap in its volunteer force with a federal grant to fund
some full-time, paid positions.
The Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View fire department
also has used a federal grant to add a recruitment and retention coordinator.
“We’re not understaffed now, but we can see we’re going to have turnover and
want to get ahead of the curve,” said Maddison Zikmund, who has filled the
position.
Zikmund said that even when there are enough volunteers,
they’re not always in parts of town where they’re needed. “A lot of the people
we get don’t live close enough to our stations,” he said.
As result, some cities are switching to duty crews, where
volunteer firefighters are scheduled instead of being paid-on-call. Some
communities are adding full-time paid positions. Both of those staffing models
cost more.
Chaska City Administrator Matt Podhrasky believes the
staffing challenges are part of larger change. “It used to be that volunteers
would sign on and stay for 20 years, but we’re a lot more mobile now,” he said.
“We just have to plan around it.”
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| Photo Courtesy of Star Tribune |
Contributed by Matt Werneke a Real Estate professional at RE/MAX Lakes Area Realty in Crosslake. Call our office at 218-692-9938 and talk to Matt about your Real Estate needs. You may also visit Matt's website at www.yourbestcatch.com for more information…and, Matt wants you to know: “I am never too busy for your referrals”.
