A Tribune-Democrat editorial: The Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) is putting its profits ahead of the safety of residents and fire service professionals in Pennsylvania. 


Currently, there is a heated battle between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Builder’s Association over the International Residential Code (IRC), the building code used in Pennsylvania. The PBA has created a barrage of propaganda and misinformation, culminating with the PBA filing a lawsuit against Pennsylvania to block the adoption of previously approved 2009 IRC Code.



The goal of the PBA’s lawsuit is to dismiss the 2009 IRC Code, which includes the residential fire sprinkler requirement, a life safety regulation. The residential fire sprinkler requirement states that all new townhouses built after Jan. 1, 2010, and all new one- and two-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2011, in Pennsylvania, must contain a residential fire sprinkler system.