2022-097 - Changes to the California Building Code

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protection features will supplement normal fire department response by providing immediate protection for the building occupants and by containing and controlling the fire spread to the area of origin. Fire sprinkler systems will also reduce the use of water for firefighting by as much as 50 to 75 percent. II. Topographical conditions A. Natural; slopes of 15 percent or greater generally occur throughout the foothills of Orange County. The elevation change cause by the hills creates the geological foundation on which communities within Orange County are built and will continue to build. With much of the populated flatlands already built upon, future growth will occur steeper slopes and greater constraints in terrain. B. Traffic and circulation congestion is an artificially created, obstructive topographical condition, which is common throughout Orange County. C. These topographical conditions combine to create a situation, which places fire department response time to fire occurrences at risk, and makes it necessary to provide automatic on -site fire -extinguishing systems and other protection measures to protect occupants and property. III. Geological Conditions The Orange County region is a densely populated area that has buildings constructed over and near a vast and complex network of faults that are believed to be capable of producing future earthquakes similar or greater in size than the 1994 Northridge and the 1971 Sylmar earthquakes. Earthquake faults run along the northeast and southwest boundaries of Orange County. The Newport -Inglewood Fault, located within Orange County, was the source of the destructive 1933 Long Beach earthquake (6.3 magnitude) which took 120 lives and damaged buildings in an area from Laguna Beach to Marina Del Rey to Whittier. In December 1989, another earthquake occurred in the jurisdiction of Irvine at an unknown fault line. Regional planning for reoccurrence of earthquakes is recommended by the State of California, Department of Conservation. A. Previous earthquakes have been accompanied by disruption of traffic flow and fires. A severe seismic event has the potential to negatively impact any rescue or fire suppression activities because it is likely to create obstacles similar to those indicated under the high wind section above. With the probability of strong aftershocks, there exists a need to provide increased protection for anyone on upper floors of buildings. The October 17, 1989, Santa Cruz earthquake resulted in one major fire in the Marina District (San Francisco). When combined with the 34 other fires locally Resolution 2022-097 Page 3 of 8