Wyandotte County, KS Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

Section 8-411 adopts the 2018 International Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings by reference, and Section 8-412 amends it section by section. Three of those amendments specifically address sprinklers. R313.1, covering townhouse automatic sprinkler systems, is rewritten to say an automatic fire sprinkler system is optional in townhouses. R313.2 does the same for the broader residential stock, making sprinklers optional in one- and two-family dwellings, though if an owner or builder chooses to install one, the design must comply with Section P2904 of the plumbing code or NFPA 13D. R309.5 extends the same optional treatment to private garages, but adds that any garage sprinkler system installed must connect to an automatic system meeting Section P2904, use residential or quick-response heads, and deliver a density of 0.05 gallons per minute per square foot.

This is a deliberate local override: the base 2018 IRC as published by the International Code Council makes sprinklers mandatory in new one- and two-family construction, and Wyandotte County's Ordinance No. O-97-22, adopted June 30, 2022, strips that mandate out for the unified government's jurisdiction. The amendment does not touch commercial or multifamily sprinkler requirements found elsewhere in the building and fire codes, including the separate Existing Building Code amendment to Section 803.2 governing sprinklers in existing buildings undergoing major alterations.