JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
The standard for safety in Jefferson County.
Fire sprinklers are already common practice across Jefferson County's cities and modern model codes. Bringing the county's code up to code gives residents the same proven protection, prevents higher long-term response costs, and sets a clear, uniform standard for builders.
Last updated
Save lives
90%
lower civilian death rate in home fires where sprinklers are present.
Source: NFPA, U.S. Experience with Sprinklers
The case for protecting lives
Save water
Up to 90%
less water used to control a home fire than fire department hoses.
Source: FM Global and NFSA
The evidence on water use
Save money
6x
The protection pays for itself: a home sprinkler system runs about $8,892 in Arvada, where the average fire loss is $55,034, six times more.
Source: Arvada Fire Protection District
The case for the investmentPROTECTING OUR NEIGHBORS
Across Jefferson County, sprinklers are the easy choice.
Arvada, Golden, Lakewood and Westminster already require sprinklers in new homes, and Wheat Ridge will begin covering townhomes in 2027. Why does the standard keep spreading? Simple: Sprinklers work.
Unincorporated Jefferson County is where firefighting resources can be stretched thinnest, so it's where sprinklers do the most good.
Required in new homes
Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Westminster
Scheduled: townhomes, January 2027
Wheat Ridge
No requirement
Unincorporated Jefferson County
Wildfire and the code
The county already protects homes from wildfire outside. Sprinklers finish the job inside.
Jefferson County adopted its Wildfire Resiliency Code on March 10, 2026. It hardens foothills homes against embers and flames that arrive from outside. In its own words, it also aims to “mitigate structure fires from spreading to wildland fuels.”
The goal goes both ways: Keep wildfire out of homes, and keep a house fire from reaching the wildland. Exterior hardening addresses the first. So how do you stop a structure fire from becoming a wildfire?
Fire sprinklers. A sprinkler holds a fire that starts inside to the room where it began, before it can reach the trees, the neighbors, or the next ridge. A kitchen fire that never becomes a structure fire can't spark a wildfire.
Jefferson County has already done the hard part outside. Requiring sprinklers in new homes completes this common-sense protection.
How the two codes work together98%
of fires in sprinklered one- and two-family homes stayed inside the building when sprinklers operated. Only 2% spread outside.
NFIRS data, 2019 to 2023
Under 3 min
is all it can take to reach flashover. A sprinkler responds in that window, long before an engine can climb a foothills road.
Fire service research
280 gallons
from a home sprinkler, against an average of 3,524 gallons from a fire department response. That matters where water arrives by tanker.
National Park Service
Common misconceptions
Rumors vs. the Record
When communities consider updating their codes, the same practical questions always come up. Real Colorado permit records, fire science, and the building code can answer each one for Jefferson County.
See every question in the FAQ
Myth
“If one goes off, they all go off.”
Each head works on its own heat element. Where sprinklers operated, a single head was enough 85% of the time.
The full answerMyth
“The water damage is worse than the fire.”
One head controls the average home fire with a few hundred gallons. Hose lines apply several thousand, after the fire has grown.
The full answerMyth
“They go off by accident.”
Accidental discharge runs about one per 16 million sprinklers per year. A head is more than ten times less likely to fail than you are to be struck by lightning.
The full answerMyth
“Sprinklers cost $15,000 a home.”
Not according to Colorado permit records. Across 13 model home plans from four homebuilders, the average installed system came in at less than the cabinets, countertops, or flooring.
The full answerMyth
“This will price families out of housing.”
A 2026 University of Alabama study of 45 code adoptions across 26 states and 2.7 million home sales found the price effect of newer residential codes statistically indistinguishable from zero.
The full answerMyth
“It's a huge chunk of the price of a home.”
Actually, it's between 1% and 2% of the sale price. A rounding error in the budget of a new home, and it protects everything in it.
The full answerMyth
“Existing homeowners will have to retrofit.”
No. The model code applies to new construction only, on permits pulled after the date the board sets. No existing home, no remodel, no retrofit.
The full answerMyth
“Smoke alarms are enough.”
Alarms tell people to leave. Sprinklers put water on the fire. With sprinklers present, 96% of fires stay in the room of origin, against 72% without.
The full answerMyth
“The pipes will freeze.”
Not in a properly designed system. The residential code requires freeze protection for piping in exterior walls, attics, and unheated spaces, addressed during design, not afterward.
The full answer
For builders
Homebuilders help make Jefferson County safer. In return, sprinklers offer real trade-ups that can lower the cost of building homes.
The bottom line for Jefferson County
The choice is simple.
THE STANDARD
Sprinklers are the standard.
The national model residential code has required fire sprinklers in new homes since 2009. Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, and Westminster already require them, and Wheat Ridge starts covering townhomes in 2027. Jefferson County has the opportunity to join them and give every new home the same proven protection.
THE PROOF
Sprinklers work.
They act in a fire's first minutes, keeping it to the room where it started. Where sprinklers are present, the civilian death rate in home fires drops 90%, and the fire is kept to the room of origin 96% of the time. Fewer people hurt. Less water used. Less damage to pay for.
THE ASK
Put sprinklers back.
Jefferson County adopted a comprehensive wildfire resiliency code to protect homes from fires that start outside. Yet the county amended the residential sprinkler requirement out of its building code, leaving new homes unprotected from the fires that start inside. Welcoming that one proven requirement back is not a rewrite or new regulation. It is the missing half of the protection the county has already invested in.
Let's get Jefferson County up to code
To save money, save water, and save lives, let's make sure Jefferson County's code is up to code.