California Switches Gears on NPFA 5000

Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 4/1/2005

The California Building Standards Commission voted March 16 to rescind its July 29, 2003, decision to adopt the National Fire Protection Assn.'s NFPA 5000 as the state's next building code. The recision also included NFPA 1 Fire Code, and the International Code Council's (ICC) International Residential Code.

The commission's action followed a unanimous 7–0 recommendation issued on March 8 by its Coordinating Council, made up of the state's code-writing agencies.

The action allows state agencies to move forward with the adoption of the ICC's I-Codes, which had received the support of more than 500 private and non-profit entities, including the American Institute of Architects California Council, the California Building Industry Assn., the California Building Officials and the Structural Engineers Assn. of California.

Support for NFPA 5000 had been strong when it was first adopted, coming mainly from groups such as the Calif. Fire Chiefs Assn. and Calif. Professional Firefighters. But, at the time, there was considerable contention about the adoption of the NFPA codes. The council consensus was that this would be consistent with how California has adopted building codes in the past and provides state agencies the discretion to use the I-Codes noted as base documents for state amendment.

State agencies will now begin the process of advancing proposed code amendments back to the Building Standards Commission for approval, a process that is estimated to take about two years.