I agree. In my town we passed an ordinance that ANY structure over 500 square feet has a fire sprinkler, this includes single family residences. I believe a working fire sprinkler system would have prevented this entire tragedy. You stated it is easy to lay blame, how about some solutions, unfortuntaely it is the Fire Marshal and ATF's job to now lay blame and charge someone with possible murder charges. Not my favorite part of the job.
We need to come up with some solutions before this happens somewhere else. Sounds like where you're at is already initiating a solution. I bet you're town isn't the favorite to build in, but tough. I believe people need to be safe, and am all for sprinklering in all forms of construction. People will complain about "I don't want sprinklers in my house. They'll go off." With proper installation and maintenance, I think it's worth while and insurance rates should be lower too. I was really glad when new apt. construction was required to have sprinklers. You never know who you're living next door to! I don't envy your job one bit. There's a lot dedication and training that goes into any position at a fire dept. It's not all keeping the trucks clean, working out and playing basketball all day. If it weren't for all the properly trained emergency personnel that responded to this tragedy, I'm sure it would have been much worse. As for Great White: I don't think it was a very smart choice on their part to even consider using pyrotechnics that shot up that high toward the ceiling. There's gonna be a lot of CYA on this one. Everyone has a view on the situation. It's just hard to think about all the happy party-goers that thought it was just another night of fun. D.
