Gov. Scott Walker’s administration abruptly backed off Wednesday on plans to roll back a requirement for fire sprinklers, but the state might not adopt other safety standards that firefighters say would save lives.
In recent weeks, Walker's Department of Safety and Professional Services has quietly advanced plans to end the requirement that fire sprinklers be installed in apartment buildings with three to 20 units. Two hours after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin sites posted a story about the plan, agency officials said they were dropping the idea.
"That will not be recommended," said Deputy Secretary Eric Esser. "It will be status quo."
The agency so far has declined to expand the use of circuit interrupters that prevent fire and electrocution, as recommended by an advisory committee. Such a provision would protect families buying new homes for a few hundred dollars, said firefighters, fire chiefs and advocates for burn victims.