Huntsville, Ontario, Canada Home Fire Sprinkler Incentives

Home Fire Sprinklers Reduced Developer Expenses

Background:

This development is located on a large granite bluff. To meet the building code requirement for access routes, the developer was faced with costly road grading.

By agreeing to install fire sprinklers in every home, the developer was spared the expense of blasting through granite to get the road gradient more level. The developer was also permitted to build a single-access point, set some of the homes farther back and retain roads narrower than the requirement.

“Steep and narrow roads delay our response to a fire and we’d have to run extra hose,” says Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department Fire Prevention Officer Mike Vadlja. We caught this issue in the development’s planning stages and were able to offer fire sprinklers as a solution. By having all the homes sprinklered, if there is a fire it is going to be contained until we can effectively reach the house. So the delay caused by the roads is overcome by the sprinklers.”

Sprinklers allowed the developer to save other blasting costs by permitting longer setbacks for some homes. Another cost savings is the single-access entry, allowed when fire sprinklers are installed throughout.

Outcome:

Six homes have been built to date.

Sprinkler Costs:

C$4.50-C$6.00 per square foot. Each home in this community is served by a well. The homes have tanks and booster pumps, which is reflected in the average sprinkler installation cost.