“Fire sprinklers are the only thing that attacks the hazard itself,” said Honolulu Fire Department Acting Battalion Chief Kendall Ching. While fire alarms alert people to danger and other fire-retardant construction systems help contain a blaze once it gets established, fire sprinklers are universally recognized as the best way to save lives, particularly in buildings that are too high for people to jump out the windows and survive. Fire and smoke pour out of the Marco Polo apartment building in 2017. In Hawaii, fire sprinklers have only been required in high-rise buildings since 1975 but much of the housing stock was built before then and was grandfathered in under the old rules. None of the 302 buildings that were evaluated have water sprinklers, which have been customary in new high-rise office buildings on the mainland for almost a century. Tens of thousands of Honolulu residents live in these problematic buildings. Only 21 of the buildings that were studied have an “acceptable” life safety score, according to fire department officials. More than 281 high-rise residential buildings in Honolulu have failed to pass a safety evaluation required by the city and are at greater risk from fire than new buildings, according to an analysis provided by the Honolulu Fire Department to the City Council this month.
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