14-05-2025
Sprinkler systems can save lives. Yet many apartment buildings in Milwaukee don't have them.
A deadly blaze that left five people dead on Mother's Day has prompted a debate over requiring automatic sprinklers in apartment buildings in Milwaukee.
Highland Court Apartments, the site of the fire, was not required by city code to have sprinklers due to the apartment building's age. But Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said sprinklers could have saved lives in the May 11 fire.
People caught in fires are 90% more likely to survive if the property has automatic sprinklers, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Yet just 8% of homes and apartments in the U.S. have a sprinkler system.
"(Sprinklers) are the first firefighters on the scene," said Scott Kobb, of Sprinkler Fitters Local 183, a labor union that represents workers from 23 Milwaukee-area companies in the fire suppression system industry.
Here's what to know about requirements for sprinkler systems in residential buildings in Milwaukee.
The city requires residential buildings 60 feet and higher that were constructed after Nov. 12, 1973 to have sprinkler systems.
Buildings that predate 1973, like the Highland Court Apartments, aren't required to have a sprinkler system. The four-story apartment building was built in 1968.
If a building were to add a new addition, then the new addition would require a sprinkler system.
It's hard to say exactly. But Milwaukee's housing stock is aging, with around three-quarters of residential structures built before 1959.
Most residential buildings that are four stories or higher in Milwaukee were built before 1973, according to John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University.
Based on city property data, there are about 220 residential buildings in the city comprising 14,595 housing units that are exempt from the city's code for sprinkler systems.
Cost is the main reason property owners avoid implementing sprinkler systems. At a news conference May 13, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos argued that mandating sprinklers in old buildings would raise rent prices.
Kobb, of the union, says the cost of installing a sprinkler system is about $3 per square foot for a new construction and $4 per square foot in an existing building — roughly the price of putting high-end carpet in each room.
Despite the cost, Kobb said property owners are calling union members weekly to install sprinkler systems in old buildings.
"There shouldn't be a price tag on a human being's life, right?" Kobb said.
In 2008, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Standards attempted to mandate sprinklers in apartments with four or more units built after 2011. It met pushback from the home building industry.
In response, then-Gov. Scott Walker signed a law that prohibited state agencies from writing rules that are more restrictive than state law. At the time, state statute said only apartments with 20 or more units needed sprinklers.
Then-Attorney General Brad Schimel issued a legal opinion in 2017 agreeing that the department's rule was unenforceable, to the disappointment of local fire chiefs.
Schimel's decision was later overturned by Attorney General Josh Kaul in 2021. Plans for dwellings with three or more units submitted to the department on or after April 19, 2021 must have a sprinkler system.
Many cities in the U.S. don't require sprinkler systems in older residential buildings, a 2017 PBS investigation found.
Chicago does, to some degree. After a deadly fire in 2003, Chicago required residential high-rises built before 1975 to have either a sprinkler system, a voice communication system or other fire suppressing mechanisms. However, the city made an exception for buildings that could pass something called a "Life Safety Evaluation" — a fire safety inspection by a licensed professional engineer or architect.
As of 2023, more than 800 residential buildings in Chicago don't have a sprinkler system, according to a CBS report.
In Minneapolis, only high-rises built in 1980 or after require a sprinkler system, according to MPR News.
San Jose requires all high-rise buildings have sprinklers. San Diego also once had this requirement, but it was overturned due to cost, PBS reported.
Automatic fire sprinkler systems can suppress a fire in under 20 seconds, Kobb said. At the union offices, members maintain a "burn room" where they can demonstrate the effectiveness of sprinklers.
There are multiple types of automatic fire sprinkler systems. The most common is the wet pipe system. It's activated once the ceiling temperature gets hot enough to burst a glass bulb, immediately triggering water.
The National Fire Protection Association's review of house fires between 2017 and 2021 found that sprinklers reduced civilian death by 89%. It also decreased injury rates by 31% for civilians and 48% for firefighters.
Sprinklers also decreased the average property loss in each house fire by 55%.
Gina Castro is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be reached at gcastro@
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Many residential buildings in Milwaukee don't have sprinkler systems
