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Council approves first reading of sprinkler requirement for stacked duplexes after safety–cost debate
Summary
After a lengthy presentation and debate, the Clarksville City Council passed the first reading of Ordinance 64 to require fire sprinklers in certain stacked duplex configurations, with supporters citing life-safety benefits and opponents warning of added construction costs and risks to affordable housing; vote was 9–3.
Clarksville — The City Council on April 29 passed first reading of Ordinance 64, an amendment to the city code that would require automatic fire sprinklers in certain stacked duplex (vertical duplex) residential configurations that the fire department says function like multiunit apartments.
Assistant Chief Mike Reid, the city’s fire code official, told the council that sprinklers dramatically reduce deaths and property losses, saying roughly "75 to 80 percent of U.S. civilian fire deaths occur in homes" and that sprinklers "activate in over 90 percent of large fires" and control or extinguish fires in most cases. Reid showed a video comparing a sprinkled room and an unsprinkled room to demonstrate how quickly fire and smoke can spread and how a single sprinkler head can limit spread and occupant exposure.
Counc…
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