In the aftermath of the tragic fire that killed three people at the Marco Polo condominium tower, the debate is growing about whether sprinklers should be required in high-rise projects built before they were mandated in the mid-1970s.
There’s no question that the safety measure is needed. The debate hinges on cost.
Twelve years ago, following another deadly fire, a city task force consultant pinpointed the retrofit price tag at four residential buildings across the city at costs ranging from a low of $1,995 per unit to a high of $22,902. The estimate for the Marco Polo, which was $4,306, has since doubled.
But there are costs to not retrofitting as well.
From 2006 to 2015, fire losses in Oahu high-rises without sprinklers totaled nearly $4.6 million, compared with $366,600 in those with sprinklers.
The victims of the Marco Polo fire included many injured, as well as those who lost their lives: Jean Dilley, her son Britt Reller and Joann Kuwata.
More than 30 of the 80 Marco Polo units that sustained fire, heat or smoke damage have been deemed total losses. An additional 130 units in the structure, built in 1971, sustained water damage.
Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves has said that had the Kapiolani Boulevard building been fitted with sprinklers, the fire would likely have been contained to the unit where it started.
City and state leaders, as well as building and real estate industry leaders, must now examine retrofitting as an immediate priority.
On July 17 — three days after the blaze roared in the 36-story tower — Mayor Kirk Caldwell sent the Honolulu City Council a proposed bill requiring retrofits for buildings more than 75 feet high, the height limit for firefighters on ladders.
In an effort to ease financial burden tied to retrofitting, the City Council intends to consider tax credits, installment payments and other proposals to help for condo owners and their associations. At the state Capitol, Sen. Glenn Wakai has said during the next legislative session he plans to re-introduce a bill he first proposed in 2005 that makes sprinklers mandatory and creates tax incentives. Elected officials must work in tandem with condo associations and other stakeholders to put in place an effective mandate.
Long-standing opposition in some circles to government officials forcing such installation is understandable. Condo units are private property. Many residents are elderly, on fixed incomes, and can’t afford the cost. But if units are not adequately outfitted to quickly put out a fire, public safety is threatened.
What’s more, this issue has been intermittently debated for years, and voluntary efforts have produced scant progress.
There are roughly 300 residential high-rises without sprinkler systems. But since 2000, only one residential high-rise on Oahu that was not originally built with sprinklers has since added them, according to city records. A system was installed at the 11-story, 44-unit Diamond Head Apartments on the Hilton Hawaiian Village grounds in 2004.
Four years ago, Marco Polo residents weighed a $4.5 million retrofit proposal — about $8,000 per unit — for installation of sprinklers in common areas and in 568 individual apartments. But its board approved the upgrade in the common areas only — due in part to legal problems linked to getting access to individual units. The work, which was to be paid for through maintenance fees, was never started.
Building codes can evolve as lessons are driven home by incidents that cause tragic loss of life. Progress may be slow, difficult and expensive, but it must be steady. Interim action can be less ambitious — a renewed commitment by building associations to fire safety education and inspections, for instance — while financing schemes are developed. But in the end, our elected leaders and others must take action to better safeguard us from the deadly hazards of a high-rise fire.
Elsewhere in the U.S., while most cities mandate sprinklers in newly built high-rises, older residential towers often lack the safety measure. According to an Associated Press survey of various cities, San Francisco, for example, requires retrofitting only in high-rise commercial buildings and tourist hotels. Residential and historic buildings are excluded. San Jose has in place has an apparent rare across-the-board policy. Since 1983 it has required that all high-rise buildings be retrofitted with sprinklers. We should follow San Jose’s lead.
