THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEVIN ARMSTRONG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 98 lines
Virginia Beach hotel owners' scramble to meet a March 1 deadline for installing fire sprinklers marks only the latest effort in a decade-long push to improve the safety of multi-story buildings across the state.
A March 1988 investigation that uncovered fire safety hazards at 52 of Virginia Beach's largest resort inns set lawmakers in motion to raise the standards statewide for hotel building codes.
But it was the 12 lives lost in an Oct. 5, 1989, fire at a Norfolk nursing home that provided the catalyst for sweeping changes in fire safety - encompassing hotels, adult homes, hospitals and, more recently, college dormitories.
Although innkeepers have had at least seven years to install the devices, about 25 Virginia Beach hotels remain without them, with five weeks left before the March 1 deadline, according to a list compiled by the city's innkeepers association.
Many of those owners have signed contracts to have the work done, but contractors say they can't possibly finish in time.
On Thursday, state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, introduced a bill that would extend the deadline until Sept. 1.
It was former state Sen. Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings Jr., a Democrat whom Stolle defeated in 1991, who introduced the legislation giving hotels seven years to install sprinklers, as required by law.
The bill was first submitted in 1989 and went into effect in 1990.
``It was done at the urging of the city,'' Stallings said Friday. ``It was done about the same time they had a fire in a Norfolk nursing home, as I recall.''
Stallings said the fire at Norfolk's Hillhaven Rehabilitation and Convalescent Center was instrumental in securing passage of the new law, but the effort actually started before the fire.
``It was spurred on by the Virginia Beach fire officials,'' he said. ``The fire people testified before the (Senate) committee, and the hotel people testified. They (hotel owners) said this was very expensive and that they needed a lot of time.''
The request was built into the code change, which applied statewide to all hotels and motels taller than three stories and gave owners seven years to complete the work.
Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, a Virginia Beach Democrat, also helped push the measure through the General Assembly.
Croshaw said Friday that he doesn't remember every detail of the law's passage in 1990, but he remembers this: Seven years seemed like plenty of time.
Still, a one-time extension isn't troubling to him as long the sprinklers get installed.
``Everything up here is a balance. When you consider the balance between safety and economic impact, I see far more harm in closing the hotels,'' he said. ``This wouldn't promote any additional hazard, it would give them more time to comply with a prevention requirement.
``But we've got to get it done. We passed that bill because of safety concerns, and those concerns are still there.''
Several other legislators contacted last week agreed.
``Obviously, compliance is our goal. We want to get the sprinklers in, not to shut the hotels down,'' said Petersburg Del. Jay DeBoer, who has fought to require sprinklers in hospitals.
Changes in the Uniform State Building Code were made in 1990 to require that nursing homes be retrofitted with sprinkler systems by Jan. 1, 1993. Hotels were given until March 1, 1997, to install the devices, and hospitals have until Jan. 1, 1998, to comply.
In 1991, the state required that fire sprinklers be installed in all new college dormitories more than three stories tall, but lawmakers stopped short of requiring existing dormitories to be retrofitted with the safety devices.
Some officials have called for expanding that law to require retrofitting all dormitories.
Fire officials have championed for many years the ability of sprinkler systems to combat blazes and minimize damage, but building owners have balked at the added cost of installing the devices.
``There's nothing out there that provides as much protection as a sprinkler system,'' Virginia Beach Deputy Fire Marshal L.G. Knott said last week.
The state adopted a Uniform State Building Code in 1973, and it has been amended in various ways ever since, including the provisions for fire sprinklers.
Because the General Assembly has a policy of not allowing individual cities to set standards more or less restrictive than the state's code, any changes in the law have required legislative approval.
In 1986, the General Assembly waived that policy so cities could require sprinklers in hotels at least 50 feet tall. Virginia Beach was one of the first cities to adopt the new sprinkler standard, but it applied only to new hotels.
In 1988, the state required all localities to adopt a similar regulation, but it again grandfathered older hotels.
A special report in March 1988 by The Virginian-Pilot documented numerous fire safety hazards in Virginia Beach's 52 largest resort hotels. That report led to a special investigation by the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney.
The following year, Stallings, Croshaw and others introduced the legislation, passed in 1990, that Virginia Beach hotel owners are struggling to comply with now, seven years later. MEMO: Staff writers Robert Little and Bill Reed contributed to this
report.
KEYWORDS: FIRE CODE UNIFORM STATE BUILDING CODE