Building Code Council to review petition on how childcare occupant loads affect sprinkler and fire-area calculations

The Washington State Building Code Council’s (SBCC) Building, Fire, Accessibility, and Residential Working (BFRW) committee heard a petition on Oct. 10 asking the council to consider rulemaking or an official interpretation about how a 2024 change in state law affects fire-area and sprinkler calculations for child care in existing buildings.

Ken Broullette, a member of the City of Seattle Fire Department, told the committee he is seeing confusion among building officials about whether the statute allows child care operators to calculate occupant load only for the child-care space or whether occupant loads from the remainder of an unseparated building must also be included when determining whether sprinklers are required. “You are not going to go outside of my space and include that occupant load too. You're only gonna include that occupant load in that daycare area,” Broullette said, describing the interpretation he believes the legislature intended.

Dustin (committee staff) summarized how the petition is being handled: “This one didn't come with…