Sprinkler system can be a life saver

As a former member of the Cedar Rapids Fire Department, I read the Jan. 22 front page story “Water resistance” by Rick Smith. I put in a sprinkler system during construction of my residence in 1994. So far, I hardly know it's there and have had no problems with it leaking.

I ask this question of the people who constructed a new home in the last decade: Were you given any information that an in-home sprinkler system could be an option? I feel that sprinkler systems work to save lives.

What a system does is to buy time for the residents to get out and the firefighters to get in. Fire codes are in place to protect those who are unfortunate enough to have a fire break out. They are written by professionals who know fire behavior.

As a city grows outward, response times grow longer, due to budget constraints on hiring additional firefighting personnel. Why couldn't it be an option to have new construction require a sprinkler system for longer response times, to be set by the authority having jurisdiction? Expanding the city's infrastructure costs money and it shouldn't burden every taxpayer for the profit of the developers who seek to bring in more urban development.

R. Bruce Reynolds

Cedar Rapids