Scott Walker administration scales back fire sprinkler rule in second reversal on issue

MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has determined it cannot enforce a 7-year-old requirement that fire sprinklers be put in new apartment buildings with three to 20 units — a rule that fire officials contend is one of the best ways to save lives.

The development comes six months after an administration official pledged to keep the rule in place.

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Last month, a lawyer for the agency responsible for the rule wrote in a letter to the state Department of Justice that it was unenforceable because of a 2011 law that limits state regulations. And the head of a builders group told his members that the state had already stopped following the rule.

A spokeswoman for Walker's Department of Safety and Professional Services confirmed the enforcement change Wednesday after declining to comment on it just one day before.

"The current fire sprinkler rules for multifamily dwellings are more restrictive than the statutory provision," Alicia Naleid said in an email. "Until more formal guidance is given via (the) attorney general’s opinion, the Department of Safety and Professional Services will be enforcing the statute and not the more restrictive rules.

Milwaukee Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing said if the rule can't be enforced, legislators should quickly address the issue and make sure new buildings with three to 20 apartments are equipped with fire sprinklers.

“To think we’re going to roll that back is disheartening,” he said.

“As firefighters, we know that sprinklers save lives. When you look at a building and you think what can I do for protecting that building and the people in it, the single most important component of that is a sprinkler system.”

Early this year, the department considered dropping the rule for buildings with up to 20 units. Within two hours of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting on those plans, agency officials announced they would keep the rule.

"That will not be recommended," Deputy Secretary Eric Esser said at the time. "It will be status quo."

But in July, the department reversed course again after finding the regulation went further than what is allowed in state law.

State law says fire sprinklers are required in buildings with more than 20 units.

In 2008, the state put into effect the sprinkler rule for buildings with three or more units for any building built after Jan. 1, 2011. The Wisconsin Builders Association challenged the rule, but the state Court of Appeals determined the agency that set the rules had the power to do so because it was given broad authority to establish regulations to keep buildings safe.

But in 2011, Walker and legislators approved a law that says state agencies cannot write regulations that go further than what is spelled out in state law. Department of Safety and Professional Services officials determined that meant the fire sprinkler rule for buildings with three to 20 apartments is unenforceable, according to a letter the agency's chief counsel, Michael Berndt, wrote to Attorney General Brad Schimel last month. 

Berndt asked Schimel to give his legal opinion on the issue. A spokesman for Schimel said writing that opinion is a top priority. 

Brad Boycks, executive director of the Wisconsin Builders Association, sent an email to his members on July 28 saying he had learned the state was no longer enforcing the sprinkler rule, according to a copy of the email obtained by the Journal Sentinel. That was four days after the department asked for the review by the attorney general.

Boycks told his members they might need to eventually compromise on the issue but that he hoped a more stringent standard would not be set.

“Best case scenario would be for the legislature to do nothing and just have DSPS refer to the law already on the books,” he wrote to his members.

Boycks did not return phone calls, but his group has opposed the fire sprinkler rule because it drives up the cost of constructing apartment complexes.

Fire officials and those who work with fire victims said such rules save lives.

"I think it's a mistake and it puts lives at risk," said Amy Acton, executive director of the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. "It's really going back in fire protection. ... People will die."

Town of Madison Fire Chief David Bloom called the change an "extreme rollback" and expressed frustration that builders appeared able to get more information from the state than the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association could.

"The question to DSPS is if you're not enforcing it, tell us," he said. "We have no clue what's going on."

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson referred questions to the Department of Safety and Professional Services. He did not say if the governor wanted to adopt a law requiring fire sprinklers in more instances if the existing rule can't be enforced.

Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.