Proposed changes to state regulations that would reduce requirements for electrical protections and sprinklers in new homes, college dorms, hotels and other buildings fly in the face of reason, state firefighters and building inspectors said during a public hearing Tuesday in Eau Claire.
The proposal would halt nationally required expansion of devices used to prevent fires and electrocutions in new building projects. The state Department of Safety and Professional Services, which sponsored the hearing, backs those code changes, saying they are too expensive for builders and homebuyers. “The simple fact is sprinklers work,” Robert Ugaste, Wauwatosa fire chief and president of the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association, said during the hearing at HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital. “I don’t understand why the administration would want to remove that regulation.”