Highlights

• Timberline Builders chooses to protect all seven units with an Uponor Fire Safety System
• Uponor Fire Safety System quickly and successfully contains a garage fire that threatens to engulf all seven attached units
• Homeowner is able to return to her residence on the same day as the fire

 Background

During the construction of a townhome building, the municipality had asked developer Timberline Builders to install sprinklers in all the rear-facing units – about half of the development – since these homes could not be easily reached by fire trucks and equipment.

But Timberline chose to extend this protection to all seven units after learning how easy it would be to install Uponor’s multi-purpose system, which uses an interconnected grid of crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) tubing to feed both the sprinklers and the cold-water plumbing fixtures. Being able to install both systems at once “saved us from construction delays,” says Timberline partner Jerry Pope.

“We like this system because it protects our investment,” he continues. “Homeowners liken sprinklers to having their own personal ‘fire department’ on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Today, we incorporate sprinklers in nearly all of our communities, regardless of code requirements, because it just plain makes good business sense.”

 Shock Turns to Relief

Former fire-fighter Gretchen Schmeisser watched in disbelief as flames from her overheated van threatened to destroy her three-level, 1,600-square-foot, townhome in Durango, Colo. But her shock soon turned to elated relief, as she realized that two of the home’s fire sprinklers in the garage had activated.

“Damage to the home was limited to the garage, thanks in large part to the fire sprinklers, which controlled the flames before they could build deadly heat and smoke, typical of a gasoline fire,” says Durango Fire Marshal Tom Kaufman.

Other than the garage itself and some light smoke damage to the upper two floors of the Schmeisser home, the seven attached units in the building – part of the 71-unit Parkside Terrace complex – escaped the blaze unscathed. In fact, Schmeisser and her daughter were able to sleep in their own beds that same evening, just a few hours after the fire.