Draft language you can use for your letter, e-mail, or phone call to the BBRS

I write to you today because I want to better protect the citizens and firefighters of Massachusetts from fire. Every model building code in the country includes the provision for fire sprinklers in new one and two family homes. This minimum level of safety makes sense. It saves lives, reduces injuries and lessens the amount of property damage from fire. The facts are clear:

• The risk of dying decreases by about 80 percent when sprinklers are present in the home in the event of a reported fire.
• People in homes with sprinklers are protected against significant property loss—sprinklers reduce the average property loss by 71 percent per fire.
• Property is protected from destruction—meaning that families who survive a fire will also have a place to live and enough resources to continue living their lives as they did before.
• Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire.
• The cost of installing home fire sprinklers averages $1.61 per square foot for new construction—similar to what is spent on carpet upgrades or a whirlpool bath.
• The BBRS recently promulgated the Massachusetts building code and took out this critical provision. It is a dangerous precedent to go below the established minimum level of safety and puts all of us in Massachusetts at risk.

I urge you to add it back in or at a minimum add it back in and push out the effective date to provide more time for it to be implemented. Your action will better protect the citizens of Massachusetts and its firefighters for generations to come.