Here's a news item from the Associated Press:  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Senate panel sided with backers of giving people more freedom to build rural homes where and how they please, even if they don't conform to fire safety rules. Under the measure, SB 1325, passed Thursday in the Senate Commerce Committee, single-family homes built on five-acre parcels outside of cities would be exempted from International Fire Code water supply and access rules, unless a county adopts the code. Fire chiefs in 2009 fought off a push to eliminate the International Fire Code as Idaho's minimum fire safety standard. Meridian Fire Chief Ron Anderson, an Idaho Fire Chiefs Association member, says he's still concerned these changes will make it tougher for emergency crews to protect rural homes, but says Sen. Steven Bair's latest measure affects only a limited number of them. The bill now goes to the full Senate.

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