RESOLUTION CHAPTER _______

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 93—Relative to fire safety.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 93, Holden. Fire safety: municipal ordinances.

This measure would encourage all California municipalities to reexamine regulations surrounding mandatory fire suppression ordinances.

WHEREAS, The first automatic sprinkler system was patented in England in 1723 and the first fire sprinkler system was developed in the United States in 1874.

WHEREAS, Fire suppression technology was first used in residential construction in the state in 1932 when the Union Oil Company constructed homes for employees in Santa Paula, California; and

WHEREAS, The City of San Clemente, California was the first city in the nation to adopt an ordinance requiring all new residential dwellings to contain fire sprinklers; and

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 2579 was introduced in the California State Senate in 1986 and would have required fire sprinklers in all residential buildings; and

WHEREAS, In January 1988, the California State Fire Marshall published California’s minimum design and installation standards for fire suppression systems; and

WHEREAS, On May 4, 1988, several floors of the First Interstate Tower, a downtown Los Angeles high-rise office tower built without fire sprinklers, ignited killing one and injuring 40 others. Subsequent reports indicated a working fire suppression system would have lessened the fire’s damage; and

WHEREAS, Following the First Interstate Tower fire, the City of Los Angeles mandated automatic fire suppression systems in all buildings over seven stories; and

WHEREAS, Buildings should be provided with built-in fire suppression systems to offset the negative impact of excessive response times; and

WHEREAS, On April 7, 2015, a massive fire burned through a six floor office building in Los Angeles, a building that was exempted from mandatory fire suppression regulations because of its age and size; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature encourages all California municipalities to reexamine regulations surrounding mandatory fire suppression ordinances; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.

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