Builders Association of Minnesota

BAM published a press release March 3, 2011, below, along with two graphs from data collected by BAM staff.

Read the release below or see the full release complete with graphs here.

Saint Paul, MN, March 3, 2011 -- The Builders Association of Minnesota (BAM) gathered data on fire deaths in Minnesota in single-family homes the past decade and the results reveal newer homes are safer than older homes. The increase in safety is a result of smoke alarms.

BAM researched the fire deaths in Minnesota in single-family homes from 1998-2010 using addresses provided by the State Fire Marshal and contacted county and city assessor staff to determine the original year of construction. BAM categorized the fire deaths from the 12-year period by the year the home was constructed. The data show there are significantly fewer deaths in newer homes versus homes built before the building code required smoke alarms. Of the 187 fire deaths in Minnesota in single-family homes the past decade, 98.4% of the deaths occurred in homes built before 1995.

2011 BAM President Todd Bjerstedt of McDonald Remodeling Inc. said, "Minnesota has been actively engaged in preventing fire deaths since 1973 when it adopted requirements for all homes to install smoke alarms."

In 1995, the Minnesota State Building Code began requiring hardwired smoke alarms with battery backup. In 2003, the State Building Code went a step further and started requiring hardwired smoke alarms with battery backup to be interconnected as well, so if one sounds they all sound. 430,000 homes have been built since 1990, housing over 1,000,000 Minnesotans, and of those homes, six fire deaths have occurred, three caused by careless smoking; the other three causes could not be determined.

Since 1995, when hardwired smoke alarms with battery backup were required, only 1.6% of 3 fire deaths happened in homes built in the last 15 years. The data gets even clearer about the safety of new homes; since 2003 there has been only one death, which was caused by careless smoking in the home.

Since 2003, public policy has been put in place in response to careless smoking fire deaths. In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature passed the Fire Safe Cigarette Law requiring the sale of cigarettes that self extinguish when unattended. The National Association of State Fire Marshals in a member of the Safe Cigarette Coalition whose website states, "If the cigarette falls near the head of a sleeping smoker, the smoldering fire can produce enough carbon monoxide to kill him or her before there is enough heat from the burning chair/bed to activate the sprinkler."

BAM supports House File 460 authored by Representative Joyce Peppin, which prohibits a mandate of fire sprinklers in all new single-family home construction, in response to the provision in the 2012 International Residential Code. The bill was heard and passed out of the Minnesota House Commerce and Regulatory Reform Committee Tuesday March 1 with a 17-4 voice vote.

Bjerstedt states, "Fire sprinklers are and have always been an option for Minnesota homeowners, but the data clearly shows that mandating fire sprinklers in new homes will not decrease the fire death rate."