April 23, 1998 98-R-0637
FROM: Veronica Rose, Principal Analyst
RE: Fire Sprinklers in Bed & Breakfast Establishments
You asked for information on the regulations regarding fire sprinklers in bed and breakfast establishments.
SUMMARY
The 1990 federal Hotel and Motel Act sets fire protection guidelines for places of public accommodation and offers incentives to encourage compliance. In the “interest of industry,” facilities with fewer than four stories are exempt from the guidelines. The 1991 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code, which Connecticut has adopted as part of the State Fire Safety Code, supersedes the federal guidelines. It requires fire sprinklers in new lodging and rooming houses (new construction or new use), unless every sleeping room has a door leading to the outside at ground level or to an exterior stairway. This requirement applies to facilities providing sleeping accommodations for up to 16 people either on a permanent or transient basis, generally without separate facilities for individual occupants.
PA 98-6, which the legislature passed earlier this session, requires the state building inspector and state fire marshal to adopt state building and fire safety code amendments that define bed and breakfast establishments and have the goal of (1) preserving their unique character, (2) minimizing the cost of converting a house to such as an establishment, and (3) supporting tourism in the state. The amendments must be adopted by January 1, 2000. They must not affect safety of use, design, or construction of the establishments.
HOTEL AND MOTEL ACT
The federal Hotel and Motel Act (15 USC 2224 et. seq.) outlines voluntary guidelines for fire protection in places of public accommodation. The guidelines include a provision for automatic fire sprinklers in such facilities. The law exempts facilities “that are three stories or lower . . . in an attempt to strike a reasonable balance between the recommendations of the fire safety community and the interests of industry” (Senate Report No. 101-408—Attachment 1).
The law's purpose, according to the legislative history, “is to promote fire safety in hotels, motels, and all places of public accommodation affecting commerce . . . by advancing adequate fire safety for Federal employees . . . .” To encourage facilities to adopt the guidelines, the law requires each state to submit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a list of places in compliance. FEMA must compile and publish a master list in the federal Register, update it periodically, and distribute it to federal agencies.
The law (1) encourages federal employees to choose accommodations that meet its fire prevention standards, (2) requires the General Services Administration to include in the federal travel directory only hotels meeting these standards, and (3) allows federal funding for events in facilities that are not in compliance only if the funding or sponsoring agency grants a waiver.
NFPA CODE
The NFPA code requires that new lodging or rooming houses have automatic fire sprinklers. Lodging and rooming houses are exempt if every sleeping room has a door opening directly to the outside at street or ground level or to an exterior stairway that meets specified code requirements (1991 NFPA, §20-3.5.2).
The codes' purpose is to:
provide a reasonable degree of safety from fire in buildings and structures. It endeavors to avoid requirements that might involve unreasonable hardships or unnecessary inconvenience or interference with the normal use and occupancy of a building, but insists upon compliance with a minimum standard for fire safety consistent with the public interest (NFPA Code §1-2).
VR:cd