NORTH CAROLINA — Prominent state firefighter organizations are raising concerns over a new building code law that could increase fire risks for homeowners. Firefighters and other critics argue the law demonstrates a broader issue caused by the disproportionate influence of the North Carolina Home Builders Association in the General Assembly.
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The House of Representatives overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 166 — a sweeping 70-page building code reform bill — on Wednesday. It came a year after lawmakers overrode Cooper’s veto of a separate building code bill, House Bill 488, banning proposed energy efficiency updates for residential homes until 2031.
The North Carolina Fire Marshals’ Association and North Carolina State Fire Association opposed both bills.
“In recent years fire officials have had less and less influence in the General Assembly on fire code changes,” North Carolina State Fire Association president Tim Bradley told Port City Daily. “It seems to benefit developers. It’s ultimately the citizens that lose. Because buildings are constructed in manners that reduce fire safety.”
The groups’ concerns with S.B. 166 include prohibiting local governments from enacting fire prevention regulations outside the state’s residential code requirements.
North Carolina Home Builders Association Director of Legislative Affairs Steven Webb disputed the claims. He argued his organization would never jeopardize safety but had to balance affordability with other concerns.
“Every special interest wants their changes in the code,” he said. “Whether it’s the energy folks or the fire folks. Each special interest says: ‘We only want this and that alone, while it might be thousands of dollars, it’s not that great of a cost.’ All those things combined is what’s really driving costs.”
Webb said S.B. 166 only prevents local governments from enacting structural fire prevention ordinances. He said municipalities would still have authority over issues like requiring fire hydrants within a development and banning outside burning.
“If they want to mandate sprinklers it would have to be done at the building code council,” he said. “If we allowed each local government to come up with their own construction, electrical, and energy codes it would be nearly impossible to build houses in this state.”
Commissioner Rob Zapple, a member of the Building Code Council, disputed NCHBA’s methodology for determining costs for building code updates; he argued energy and safety improvements would result in long-term savings for homeowners.
Zapple and North Carolina Fire Marshals’ Association President Brian Kelly also raised concerns that the bill’s language was too vague to ensure local communities can carry out risk assessments.
“There’s something off about having to rely on the North Carolina Home Builders Association for interpretation of the fire code,” Zapple said.
The firefighter organizations also cite the reorganization of the Building Code Council and removal of expert positions, including architects and fire code officials. The law shifts the 17-member governor-appointed body to 13 members, six of whom are appointed by the General Assembly.
The North Carolina Home Builders Association is the primary sponsor of both reform bills. It spent $346,458 on lobbying in 2023 and has spent $278,736 on campaign donations for the 2024 election.
“We’ve worked for several months crafting all the provisions in this bill,” NCHBA director of legislative affairs Steven Webb said in a July video regarding S.B. 166.
Emails obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute show the North Carolina Home Builders Association also wrote last year’s building code reform bill with Rep. Mark Brody (R-Anson) — a member of the association — and legislative aides.
Webb argued Brody has unique expertise as a homebuilder and noted special interest involvement in legislative drafting is common across a number of industries and sectors. Critics counter that the organization has disproportionate influence compared to other stakeholders on development regulation.
“The homebuilders run everything in North Carolina if you haven’t figured that out already,” former Wilmington assistant fire chief Frank Blackley joked to Port City Daily.
Blackley cited the association’s influence on past legislation, such as a 2013 law, H.B. 120, that shifted most of the state’s building code updates from three-year to six-year cycles.
Blackley formerly served as president of North Carolina Fire Marshals’ Association and retired from the Wilmington Fire Department in 2020 after 35 years with the agency. He said he previously faced opposition from the state builders association when pushing for residential fire sprinkler requirements after a house fire in Ocean Isle Beach killed seven college students.
“This will never happen in North Carolina, but in some states they require residential sprinklers in all new homes,” Blackley said. “We kill people in homes. We don’t kill people in commercial buildings for the most part.”
According to a November 2023 National Fire Protection Association report, 59% of civilian fire deaths in 2022 occurred in one and two-family home complexes versus 12% in apartments and 4% in non-residential structures.
S.B. 166 amends the residential code to include three-and-four family dwelling units and prevents regulators from requiring automatic fire sprinklers in the housing complexes. Webb said the bill includes a requirement for 2-hour fire resistance ratings for walls to ensure safety; he argued mandating fire sprinklers would pose excessive costs on developers.
North Carolina Fire Marshals’ Association President Brian Kelly said he was particularly concerned the bill’s provisions — such as new limitations on local governments from adopting fire prevention code provisions — were fast tracked through committee. He argued stakeholders did not have enough time to understand ramifications of the 70-page bill.
Kelly’s organization “implored everyone” to consider the consequences of S.B. 166 in a call-to-action letter in May.
“Proposed changes in S.B. 166 give way to a disturbing trend where code protections are being mandated in general statutes by legislators who lack the expertise in these areas,” the fire marshals wrote.
While the restructured code council includes fire expert appointments, it removes language requiring Fire Marshals’ Association recommendation.
“Without a recommendation from the Fire Marshall’s Association, we’re concerned about the validity of the representation,” Kelly told Port City Daily.
State Fire Association President Bradley argued the position is now more likely to be filled by a fire expert who is favorable to developers.
“They sort of stack the deck on code councils,” he said. “My prediction would be they would find somebody that’s a designated fire official but also a homebuilder.”
The General Assembly approved six appointments to the new residential code council in June. All appointees are members of the North Carolina Home Builders Association, including Robert Privott, a registered lobbyist for the organization from 2005 to 2023.
“Most credible builders are active in the building community. We have over 16,000 members,” Webb told Port City Daily. “So there’s a really good shot that anyone that was chosen for those boards was a member of the Home Builder Association.”
New Hanover County Commissioner Rob Zapple, a member of the Building Code Council and NCHBA, countered the argument. He cited recent letters from NCHBA members to the Building Code Council opposing the building code reform bills to argue the association’s lobbying priorities do not represent the views of the entire industry.
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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