Townhouse complexes with six or fewer units would not be required to have sprinklers for fire protection under a bill given initial approval Tuesday by an Iowa Senate subcommittee.
Senate File 310 proposes eliminating from the state building code required installation of fire protection sprinkler systems in “a series of attached single-family residences consisting of fewer than seven units” — meaning townhouses with six units or less in the property. The measure would also prohibit local building regulations from requiring sprinkler systems for these townhouse properties.
Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said this proposal is an amended version of legislation discussed in 2025, which had language saying six or less residential “units” would not have to have sprinklers installed. The previous language would have removed sprinkler requirements for multi-level apartment and condominium buildings. The changed language specifies that only townhouse properties — residences with multiple attached units that share one or more wall — will not have to install sprinklers.
While several firefighter and public safety advocates said they appreciated the changed language, many of these groups still registered in opposition to the measure.
David Schipper, fire rescue chief of Le Mars and past president of the Iowa Fire Chiefs Association, said removing this requirement also means new townhomes being constructed in rural Iowa would not be subject to building inspections for fire safety standards that currently come with sprinkler installation. In Le Mars, he said, fire marshals conduct inspections of new construction for sprinklers, which may not occur if this requirement is removed.
“Who is going to be inspecting then in rural Iowa … I don’t think the Legislature plans on adding a bunch of inspectors to (the Department of Inspections, Licensing and Appeals) making sure that if we’re not sprinkling them, we’re doing the proper sheet rocking for fire protection?” Schipper said.
He said removing this provision and not having building inspections in place will make fires more dangerous “for volunteer firefighters, especially, that show up maybe 13 to 15 minutes after a fire started in one of these, and instead of having one on fire, one condo on fire, we have all six on fire, making it more risky for people who live there, of course, our firefighters who have to put these fires out.”
Lobbyists with organizations like the Iowa Association of Realtors and Home Builders Association of Iowa said they supported the measure as a means to make housing more affordable in Iowa. However, Chelsea Hoye with the Iowa League of Cities said while she understood concerns about housing affordability, she said “possible higher insurance costs might offset that cost savings” from not installing sprinklers.
Webster said he personally has had experience as a home builder, insurance agent and insurance adjuster, and said the insurance company he worked for issued a surcharge for properties with sprinkler systems because of mold concerns. He said the sprinkler requirements, alongside many other building code requirements, were brought up at at International Residential Code, Federal Building Code or other regulation-setting meetings where private enterprise and business officials and gave lunches and gift cards to public officials as “the way that private enterprise gets their product shoved into the building code and required all in the name of safety.”
He said the sprinkler requirement “went overboard,” and that while many local entities have attempted to remove the provision, they are “getting forced to put it back in” by state regulation. But removing this provision is part of the balance as lawmakers try to “find a way to make more affordable in Iowa while holding on to safety standards.”
“I am telling you, this is a way to make homes more affordable in Iowa, still maintaining safety …” for structures that are too large for firefighters to safely contain a blaze, Webster said. “I’m more than happy to talk to anybody with ideas, that is a way to get through this, but it is very expensive to put in a fire sprinkler in a home — it doesn’t really save on your insurance.”
He and Sen. Mark Lofgren, R-Muscatine, signed to move the measure to the Senate Local Government Committee. Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner did not support the bill advancing, pointing to “serious safety concerns” about fires spreading in these properties as well as perspectives that this provision may not reduce housing costs.
