The City of Wilson, North Carolina Passes Ordinance Requiring “High End Heat Limiting Technology” on Electric Coil Ranges

Wilson, NC

Partners: Wilson Fire & Rescue Services, Wilson Housing Authority, North Carolina
Association of Fire Chiefs, Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs and
Wilson County

Campaign: Pass a city ordinance to mandate cooking fire prevention technology and install it in all tax-supported housing.

After a fire analysis showed that Wilson’s residential cooking fire problem was higher than the national average, local fire safety advocates partnered with the Housing Authority and local politicians. Together they achieved passage of an ordinance requiring all-electric coil cooking devices in publicly funded housing be equipped with listed “temperature limiting control” technology by the end of 2016.

Since passage in 2011, Pioneering Technology’s SmartElement™ (aka Safe-T-Element) and, more recently, SmartBurner have been installed in Wilson public housing units. To date, there have been no reported stovetop cooking fires in the equipped buildings. In response to this success, the Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs passed a resolution supporting available technology for reducing fire loss an injury from stovetop cooking fires.

You can incorporate this life-saving technology into your CRR program too. SmartBurner easily replaces electric coil burners and helps prevent cooking fires. The prevention solution provides a return on investment through insurance savings, energy savings, and maintenance savings as well as preventing the high costs of restoration and lost-rent when fire occurs.