Connecticut officials are considering a change to state building codes that would allow some residential buildings to have only one way to exit, rather than two.

The proposal would allow new buildings with up to five stories of residences and up to four units of housing per floor to have just one stairway as an exit, if the building has certain fire-resistant technology. Up to six stories would be allowed in cases where there is a commercial space on the first floor.

Current state building code allows single-stairway exits for residences up to three stories tall.

The state’s Codes and Standards Committee, which reviews changes to building and fire codes, on Wednesday heard from firefighters about what they said were the dangers of the change during a public hearing. The committee has already voted once in favor of the proposal. Advocates say the change would make it easier to build housing, while opponents fear the change would be unsafe.

“Fire codes were created not by great ideas but from major losses of life and unfortunate lessons,” said Greg Priest, the fire chief of West Hartford and a representative of the Joint Council of Connecticut Fire Service Organizations.

After the public comment period ends Oct. 11, the committee will have a month to respond to comments. It’ll vote on the measure for a second time before sending it to the legislative Regulation Review Committee, which will also vote on the new code. The code is largely based on standards from the International Code Council. Connecticut updates its code according to the standards every few years.

The proposal on means of egress stems from a measure included in the 2024 bonding bill in which lawmakers mandated that the committee review a change. The goal was to make it easier to build more housing and address a shortage that experts say has caused housing costs to rise.

“I think it’s a good direction for us to move in, in terms of housing policy,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, when the measure passed.

Roger Nelson, the Bloomfield Center fire marshal and the president of the Connecticut Fire Marshals Association, said he was “vehemently opposed” to the proposal because the one exit could become blocked and would need to be wide enough for firefighters to enter a building while residents exit.

“Unfortunately the single-exit provision has become a political issue, not a life safety issue,” Nelson said.

Residential building fires killed about 2,700 people annually from 2018 to 2020. About 80% of those fire deaths in the United States occurred in one- or two-family homes, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Connecticut’s proposal would apply to new construction and says that in order to have only one set of stairs to exit, the buildings must have an automatic sprinkler system and one-hour fire resistive material. There also must not be more than 20 feet between any housing unit and the exit stairway.

The change wouldn’t apply to boarding houses, the proposal documents say.

Single-stairway legislation is growing in popularity among some housing advocates who say with new technology and building materials, the fire risk is minimized in apartment buildings of four to six floors. Colorado and Tennessee are among states that have legalized single stairs in some form. Some cities including Memphis and Austin have also gotten on board.

“The limitation of the building code has meant that smaller, missing middle-type homes, multifamily home developments just have a significant amount of barriers preventing them from being constructed,” said Pete Harrison, Connecticut director for the Regional Plan Association, in an interview.

He said modern fire suppression technologies and other safety planning can make buildings safe and make it easier to build townhomes and smaller apartment complexes, particularly as infill between existing buildings. He added that more fire deaths occur in single-family homes than apartment buildings of this size.

“It has everything to do with affordable housing, and it unlocks a really critical type of home construction that is illegal in Connecticut, but was legal for a very long time,” Harrison said.