2006 fire leads lawmakers to mandate sprinklers, fire alarms

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Many Missouri group homes will face new fire safety requirements, a direct response to a deadly November fire, under a measure that won final legislative approval Thursday.

The bill requires that most assisted living, skilled nursing and residential care facilities install sprinklers by the end of 2012 and fire alarm systems by the end of 2008.

Facilities with up to 20 beds would be exempt from installing sprinklers, but still would need fire alarms that would automatically ring to local fire departments.

The Senate passed the legislation earlier this week 32-1, and the House voted 158-0 Thursday to send it to the governor.

Gov. Matt Blunt had called for all the state's long-term residential care facilities to install sprinklers after 11 people died in a Nov. 27 fire at the Anderson Guest House for the mentally ill and disabled in southwest Missouri.

Investigators believe the fire had smoldered in the Anderson facility's attic before bursting through the ceiling. The facility was not equipped with sprinklers.

The owners of the home had been cited for previous fire safety violations at the several southwest Missouri facilities they operated. All four of their group homes are now closed.

"Most of us saw pictures of the bodies lined up in body bags on the sidewalk, and what a horrible, gruesome image," said Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart.

Some House members complained that senators had stripped out important protections by allowing the exemption for facilities with fewer than 20 beds and removing a staffing requirement that facilities keep at least one person awake at all times.

Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, included the exemption because of cost concerns.

Currently, sprinklers are required for all facilities opened after October 2000 and even earlier for some buildings, depending on the type of construction and number of stories.

According to the Department of Health and Senior Services, about 59 percent of all residential care centers have full sprinkler systems. In group homes -- such as the one that burned down in Anderson -- less than half have sprinkler systems.

The bill would require fire alarm systems with smoke detectors connected to a fire department; heat detectors; manual alarms at every exit; an attendant's station; and smoke detectors that provide audio and visual warning throughout the entire building whenever smoke is detected by one sensor.

It also requires individual floors to be divided into at least two sections with a smoke barrier in between.

Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, said the increased requirements would have notified residents at the Anderson home of a problem and could have prevented the deaths.

To help pay for the new systems, lawmakers created a loan program linked to Medicaid rates the state pays facilities to care for poor residents. The lower the Medicaid payment rate, the longer the facility would have to pay back the loan.

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On the Net:

Sprinkler bill is HB952.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov