Following Fatal Apartment Fire, Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Retrofit Highrises With Sprinklers

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would require all highrise buildings to have sprinkler systems.

The legislation is a response to the fatal fire in the Cedar High Apartments last November.

The building in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood was one of about 40 highrises across the state grandfathered into a 1978 law that otherwise requires sprinkler systems in government-owned buildings.

When the House DFL presented the bill Wednesday, they said a devastating fire like last November's should not have to happen again. For one of the speakers, Hassanen Mohamed, it was personal. His family friend was killed.

"Sprinklers do save lives," he told reporters. "This fire happened to be on the fourteenth floor and we still had victims on floors above the fourteenth because of the exhaust coming from the stairs."

As written, the proposed bill would require all buildings 75 feet or higher to have automatic sprinklers by August 2032. That timeline would allow for planning and funding as this is a massive undertaking. Proponents of the bill have suggested funding from the local and federal levels.

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) estimates that the sprinklers alone would cost around $30 million for its 26 highrises that remain without them. While the MPHA supports the legislation, there are concerns that the costs required would force the agency to choose between high-priority projects.

In St. Paul, a solution to the sprinkler problem was found. However, it took the better part of two decades for the city to retrofit its 16 buildings.