TRACTION IN FORWARD AND REVERSE
FOR 1/2 TON TO CLASS 8 VEHICLES
• UTILITY TRUCKS
• FIRE TRUCKS
• AMBULANCES
• SCHOOL BUSES
• PLOW TRUCKS
• TRACTOR TRAILERS
*Approved for use in states with chain control areas
firerescue.hotims.com
firerescue.hotims.com
FIREFIGHTERNATION.COM
As my own kids are getting older and building or buying
homes, we wanted to do more for them.
• Swings? Check.
• Trampolines? Check.
• Legos? Check.
• Toy animals and dolls? Check.
• Garbage trucks? Check.
• Firefighter toys, shirts, and apparatus? Check.
• Build-A Bears? Check.
• Ninjas with weapons? Check.
• Smoke alarms? Check.
• Residential fire sprinklers? Ch ... Hold on.
The first house was easy. My son, his wife, and their two
daughters built a home in Maryland where there is no choice—
new homes get built with residential fire sprinklers. Local
lawmakers made a law to protect their constituents. And the
homebuilding business is still doing just fine. And while maybe
the rebuilding of badly burned down homes isn’t as profitable,
the business of drying wet stuff is doing really well. Fires go out
quicker, memories last longer—and so do people. In Maryland,
the fire chiefs and the elected officials did good.
IT’S NOT RESIDENTIAL
The next home was my oldest daughter’s. Her husband
planned, designed, and eventually built a very cool home (from
the ground up) for her and their two boys. In talking with Teri,
we wanted to buy them a gift—definitely a different kind of gift.
This was an opportunity to “treat them” to a residential fire sprinkler system. We wanted to do good. Unfortunately, there is no
requirement for residential fire sprinklers in Ohio.
We did all we needed to do financially, working with a contractor, and all was going well until one day the regional water
“AUTHORITY” reviewed it and (as simply as I can put this) told
us that they didn’t “recognize” residential fire sprinkler systems. To
them, this was a “regular” fire sprinkler system. Not good.
“Regular” meant that it has the same requirements as a commercial system. More not good. So, we asked what the cost would
be for the “tap” fee, to which they responded “in the neighborhood of $25,000.” After all, “they” didn’t recognize residential fire
sprinkler systems.
And you people call yourselves an authority.
I won’t bore you with the numerous phones calls, e-mails
(many unanswered), and the epitome of bureaucracy we dealt
with, but they wouldn’t budge. We were fully supported by the
local building department, the fire department, the National Fire
Sprinkler Association, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal but not
that damn “authority.” But we had a house under construction,
and I was determined to get it sprinklered. Of course, so was the
water authority, as long as we paid that fee based on their out-of-touch, uneducated, close-minded, and antiquated thinking. They
did offer a “process” for us to appeal, but as one of their representatives hinted (more winking), we shouldn’t waste our time.
So, we didn’t. Not all so-called authorities are really authorities.
Remember who told you that.
Remember, our goal was to protect my oldest daughter and her
beautiful family, and we were going to do it no matter what “
authority” got in the way. I thought back to Keith’s idea (which is not all
that unusual anymore), and even though there is a hydrant literally
