ORONO, Minn. -- On Tuesday night, fire destroyed an Orono family's dream home that they had only called home for 19 days. The silver lining; no one was home at the time, but the massive lakefront house is a total loss.
Some fighting the fire say it may not have been had one thing been added to the house in construction.
"One of the things that probably could have saved this house was residential fire sprinklers," Long Lake firefighter James VanEyll said at the scene late Tuesday.
Folks who fight fire as a business in St. Paul agree completely.
"It's there when you need it. Each sprinkler head is a firefighter waiting to jump into action," St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said.
Zaccard says the cost of putting in a system in a new home is less than one percent of the total cost of construction and he's a big believer in the law that will take effect Jan. 1 that requires new home construction of 4,500 square feet or more to have residential fire sprinklers.
"This law will save lives when homes built with sprinklers have fires, it will," Zaccard said.
Zaccard also said many homeowner's insurance policies will offer discounts for people who have these sprinklers.
