Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A proposal from the New York State Board of Fire Prevention and Codes would require fire sprinklers to be installed in every new home build. One state senator wants to douse that idea.
The proposal would mandate in any new house built, you would have to install a sprinkler system.
"I can tell you that the estimation from the New York State Board of Realtors is that this will add approximately $30,000 or more to the cost of a new home. It's unbelievable to me," said State Sen. Rob Ortt in an interview with WBEN.
Ortt feels now is not the time to do anything like this.
"It's unbelievable that at a moment in time such as this, when affordability and the cost of everything is the first top of mind for every New Yorker and every American, that when the governor talks about a housing crisis in New York, we got to build more homes, this is that exact moment we would say, 'This is a good time to add another cost,' a significant cost," Ortt said. "It's a bone-headed, very New York thing to come up with this now."
Ortt says sprinkler systems in a new build won't reduce fire risks.
"I would argue that from a fire safety standpoint, most of your fires occur in older homes. Newer homes, new builds, are used with better materials, they have smoke detectors. They're just built to to be safer," Ortt explained.
The State Legislature is not in session now, and while the proposal may get approved this week, it won't take effect right away.
"It would probably take effect either later in 2025 or even into 2026, so there would be time when we reconvene in the new year to, in fact, do something at that moment," Ortt said.
He adds the legislature needs to be serious in its response.
"If we're serious about making housing more affordable, if we're serious about building more housing, if we're serious about what we say, then we can't, at the same time, allow something like this to move forward," Ortt said. "We've got to decide, either we're not serious about it, either we don't care that housing is really expensive, either we don't care and we're going to continue to let unelected boards do things like this that have real impacts on people, or we're going to take action."
The new legislative session in Albany starts in January.