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Council task force
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
to analyze retrofit issues
Star-BulletinThe City Council will convene a task force to look at the pros and cons of requiring older high-rise buildings on Oahu to be retrofitted with sprinklers.
Public Safety Chairman Andy Mirikitani agreed to the task force upon the recommendation of fire officials appearing before his committee yesterday.
The task force will consist of condominium and commercial property owners, fire protection engineers, Council members and representatives from the Planning and Permitting Department.
Fire department officials reported there are 347 high-rises on the island that do not have sprinkler systems -- 35 commercial and 312 residential condominium and apartment buildings.
All were built prior to 1975, the year a bill was passed requiring all new high-rises to have sprinklers.
A bill in 1983 forced hotels to retrofit with sprinklers.
A high-rise building, for city fire and building code purposes, is defined as being 75 feet or higher. Existing firetruck ladders cannot reach heights beyond that.
Bills now pending before the Council would require older high-rise business buildings to have or install sprinkler systems. The bills were introduced in response to the April 1 Interstate Building fire, which caused $2 million damage and injured more than a dozen firefighters.
The fire department said sprinklers would have contained the fire before it got out of control.
Leaders of associations representing commercial and condominium properties have raised questions about the high cost of retrofitting buildings.
No bills have yet been introduced to address retrofitting residential high-rises, but Council members said they may be forthcoming.
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