Sprinkler system given go-ahead

Justices of the peace authorized the drafting of plans Monday night for a sprinkler system that would bring the Garland County Court House into compliance with the International Existing Building Code.

The plans have to be submitted by Oct. 1 for the county to receive the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program grant it was awarded in June, project architect Anthony Taylor told a joint meeting of the Garland County Quorum Court Environmental Services, Public Works and Building and Finance committees.

The county was awarded a $100,000 grant for a sprinkler system. Taylor said he’s been quoted a $288,104 cost for a wet system covering all four floors of the building, and $330,000 for a dry

system. He said installation probably couldn’t begin until next year, allowing the county to appropriate the project cost during next year’s budget cycle.

The county has been working since 2014 to bring the courthouse into compliance with the International Existing Building Code. The courthouse’s inclusion in the Thermal Basin Fire District requires all four floors to be brought up to code.

A compliance plan was developed after the Garland County prosecutor’s office requested a fire inspection before it moved additional personnel to its district court offices on the fourth floor. Existing personnel were subsequently relocated from the fourth floor, which has been used for storage ever since.

The fire inspection cited the need for exits closer to the third and fourth floors. A firstfloor door facing north at the bottom of the stairwell was the closet exit prior to the completion of the external metal walkway and stairwell earlier this summer. Built with the help of a previous Historic Preservation Program grant, it provides a fire exit leading from the third and fourth floors to the parking lot behind the courthouse.

A sprinkler system would address the open stairwell cited in the fire inspection, the Hot Springs Fire Department has said. The state’s fire prevention code requires vertical openings connecting three to five stories to be enclosed. A previous compliance plan called for enclosing the stairwell with magnetic doors, but the granting agency said it was cost prohibitive.

The county has been reluctant to accept the latest grant without a definite cost for a sprinkler system, but Taylor told JPs grant money might not be available in the future.

“Something is going to have to be done with the fire protection in the stairwell and the fire protection overall,” he said. “When you have $100,000 that somebody is giving you, it seems like a good time to start.

“The building is way out of compliance right now.”

He said the county could install the sprinkler system in phases and still be in compliance with the grant.

Taylor told JPs that the fire department informed him a pump for a service line from the water main along Ouachita Avenue wouldn’t be needed to ensure adequate water pressure for a sprinkler system. He said the service line would be 4 to 6 inches in diameter, but the final diameter won’t be known until calculations determining the number of sprinklers, the amount of water each would require and the pressure needed to get water up to the fourth floor are completed.

A sprinkler system would include the capability to signal the fire department directly if the fire alarm were activated, Taylor said. Installation would occur during the evenings, when the courthouse is closed, and most distribution lines would be concealed above the building’s suspended ceilings, Taylor said.

The courthouse has been at its Ouachita Avenue location since 1906 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.