The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved an ordinance which will require stickers on new structures built with engineered lumber or features truss construction.
Click here for background on the law.
Engineered lumber is, man-made, lightweight wood, often recycled. The wood is sturdy, but it burns faster and loses it structural integrity much quicker than other lumber types, according to a recent article in the National Fire Protection Association Journal.
Truss construction refers to buildings where roofs or floors are supported by trusses — such as the ceiling in big-box stores such as the Home Depot in Derby.
Truss construction is safe, but gives away too quickly during major fires, said Alderman David Lenart, who proposed the law.
Lenart is a firefighter in Bridgeport.
The new law will require a sticker — similar, Lenart said, to burglar alarm stickers often seen on houses — informing firefighters about the building type.
During a public hearing on the law Thursday night, Josh Bartlett, of the Structural Building Components Association, said the law was based on the incorrect assumption that truss construction and engineered wood kill firefighters.
He said heart attacks and vehicle crashes kill firefighters and that concentrating on a non-issue like truss construction would be wasting time when officials could be dealing with major safety threats.
Bartlett said the stickers would be like putting a scarlet letter on some homes, making them unsellable.
“Trusses and engineered lumber have been around for 50 years. I think we should know by now how to fight fires in them,” Bartlett said.
Bartlett warned the program would drive up the cost of housing, because buildings would have to use more expensive wood.
The law will push the construction industry to neighboring communities that don’t have the sticker program.
“Passing this bill will cost people their jobs,” he said.
He urged the board to label all construction types instead of singling out truss construction.
However, Lenart and the Aldermen said the idea is to simply give the first firefighters on the scene a quick idea of what they’re getting into.
“It’s a little sticker,” Lenart said. “It’s done in New York City, California. The reason it is being done is because firefighters died,” he said.
The new law has the support of both Fire Marshal Phil Hawks — who suggested the construction information should also be available to emergency dispatchers before firefighters even arrive at a scene through a computer — and Building Inspector Dave Kopjanski.
Lenart said Frank Pepe of Pepe Construction will donate the money needed to create the stickers.
