Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – 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 websites posted a story about the plan Wednesday, 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 at an added cost of a few hundred dollars, said firefighters, fire chiefs and advocates for burn victims.

But Esser on Wednesday said no final decisions have been made on that provision.

A committee of experts assembled by the department voted 9-1 last year to expand the use of circuit interrupters. But department officials at least initially decided to pass on those recommendations.

The planned overhaul of the state’s electrical and building codes is dangerous, said Wauwatosa Fire Chief Rob Ugaste, president of the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association.

“It not only puts civilians’ lives at risk, it puts firefighters' lives at risk,” he said. “A department that has safety in its name and safety in its mission should not be doing things that are unsafe for the public.”

Ugaste talked to the Journal Sentinel before the provision on fire sprinklers was dropped. He was discussing the provisions on both sprinklers and circuit interrupters.

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In September, the department's advisory panel on the electrical code recommended that it require builders to install circuit interrupters in more instances in new homes. Circuit interrupters, which include reset buttons on outlets and in circuit boxes, sense current and arcing and prevent electrical fires and electrocution.

In December, less than three months after it completed its work, the committee was told its recommendations were being rejected, said Bill Neitzel, an electrical inspector and the chairman of the advisory panel. Committee members were frustrated their recommendations were being tossed aside when they had voted for it 9-1, he said.

“Three of the contractors (on the panel) came out of their chairs, saying, ‘Why did you waste our time?’ ” Neitzel said.

The recommendations were based on industry safety standards. Neitzel downplayed cost concerns, saying homebuyers can find ways to save money without sacrificing safety.

“Maybe that home doesn’t need granite countertops,” he said. “Maybe it doesn’t need gold-plated faucets. Maybe it needs safety protection.”

The Wisconsin Builders Association backed the administration's initial plan to scale back the use of fire sprinklers and stand pat on the use of circuit interrupters.

Brad Boycks, the executive director of the homebuilders group, said Wisconsin would still have safe housing under such codes, but he did not dispute the claims of Ugaste and others that it could cost lives.

Requiring more circuit interrupters could add $500 to $600 to the cost of a new home, Boycks said.

“Those are real dollars,” he said. “We always want to keep the cost of housing low so people have housing options. ... When you raise the price of housing, you price families out.”

But Amy Acton, the executive director of the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, said Wisconsin should not put lives at stake to save a few hundred dollars for homebuyers.

“To me, that’s just a total no-brainer,” she said. “I don’t think anybody who’s building a home is going to notice $400 circuit interrupters.”

About 2,500 people die a year in home fires, according to the National Fire Protection Agency.

“It’s just going backward in protecting our families, our children, our property,” Acton said.