From the Houston Chronicle:
Houston officials say the recent deaths of four firefighters in an aging hotel that had no sprinkler system - and was not required to - may lead them to consider revising city fire codes.
Mayor Annise Parker said the question of whether to require old motels to install sprinklers is a worthy policy discussion, but she said it must be pursued cautiously and only after investigations into the May 31 blaze at the Southwest Inn are complete.
"Anytime we do a retroactive code change, we have to really balance the safety needs against the costs of these kind of retrofits," Parker said. "Essentially we'd be putting a lot of these small motels, the older motels - and there are not very many of them and they're gradually falling by the wayside - but we'd be putting them out of business."
A look at the existing code suggests that much of its content is the result of past events, including fires.
Click here for the HFD Standards and Codes.
While we're at it, here's similar info for the Alvin Fire Department.
