Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman is proposing that large nightclubs in the city be required to install sprinkler systems, in case of fire.
The proposed ordinance applies to all nightclubs in Portland that hold more than a hundred people.
Portland Fire Marshall Nate Takara drafted the resolution after looking at how well fire suppression sprinkler systems work nation-wide: According to a fact sheet created by Portland Fire and Rescue, there is no record of a fire killing more than two people in a building equipped with automatic sprinklers.
Commissioner Saltzman says that while Portland has not yet had a tragedy like the Kiss Nightclub fire in Brazil that killed more than 200 people earlier this year, he’s not taking any chances.