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REPORT <br />To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From the City Manager <br /> <br />March 13, 2017 <br /> <br />SUBJECT <br />Extension of Fire Safety First Pilot Program and Extension of Effective Date of the <br />Ordinance Requiring Automatic Sprinkler Systems for Residential Buildings with Four <br />Units or More <br />RECOMMENDATION <br />1. Waive first reading and introduce an ordinance amending Section 12.18 of the Fire <br />Code to extend the effective date of the requirement for automatic sprinkler systems for <br />residential buildings with four units or more <br />2. Adopt a resolution extending the Fire Safety First Pilot Program for an additional two <br />years <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br />An ordinance amending Sections 12.18 and 12.15 of the City Fire Code and Section 9.3 <br />of the City Building Code requiring automatic fire sprinkler systems in all multi-unit <br />residential buildings of four units or more and to make violations of this requirement a <br />misdemeanor was adopted by Council on June 8, 2015. <br />The requirements were created as a result of several apartment building fires in <br />Redwood City culminating with a fatal fire in 2013. Multi-unit residential buildings built <br />prior to July 1, 1989 were not required to have fire sprinklers installed. The requirements <br />will achieve the goal of having every pre-1989 multi-unit residential building with four or <br />more units in Redwood City equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system. All multi- <br />residential buildings built after July 1, 1989 are required to have these systems. <br />The systems that are to be installed under the requirements are not intended to fully <br />meet National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 13: Standard for the Installation of <br />Sprinkler Systems or NFPA 13R: Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in <br />Low-Rise Residential Occupancies requirements. The systems are intended to fulfill a <br />“life safety” approach. The required sprinkler systems would be expected to hold some <br />fires in check and to allow occupants more time to escape a fire in a building. This <br />would reduce the financial impact of retrofitting a system on building owners. <br />6.4.A. - Page 1