The Fire
Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2007
The Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2007, HR 1742 in the
House of Representatives and S 582 in the Senate, would
amend the 1986 Internal Revenue Code to classify fire
sprinkler retrofits as a five year property for purposes of
depreciation. Presently, a fire sprinkler retrofit in a
commercial building is depreciated over 39 years and a
residential building over 27 and one-half years. This
archaic depreciation schedule provides no economic incentive
for the retrofitting of fire sprinklers in the high
inventory of critical occupancies across America. Passage of
the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act would eliminate this
economic roadblock by providing for a more rapid recovery of
cost and serve greatly to reduce the tremendous annual
economic and human losses that fire in the US inflicts on
the national economy and the quality of life. Some
astounding highlights:
·
Over 11
billion dollars in direct property damage occurred as a
result of fire in 2006. (NFPA Fire Journal, Sept/Oct 2007)
·
The total
estimated indirect cost of fire in 2004, the last year of
available data, was 97.5 billion dollars. (NFPA, “The Total
Cost of Fire in the US,” December 2006)
·
The complete
total cost of fire in the US is estimated to be between 231
and 278 billion dollars. This is 2.5% of the Gross Domestic
Product. (NFPA, “The Total Cost of Fire in the US,” December
2006)
·
There are
literally thousands of high-rise buildings built under older
codes that lack adequate fire protection. In addition,
billions of dollars were spent to make these and other
buildings handicapped accessible; however, people with
disabilities now occupying these buildings that are not
adequately protected from fire.
·
Representatives of the health care industry estimate that
there are approximately 3,200 nursing homes that still need
to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers. It is
incomprehensible that there are 3200 unsprinklered nursing
homes in America in 2008.
·
In addition to
the alarming number of nursing homes lacking fire sprinkler
protection there are literally thousands of assisted living
facilities housing older Americans and people with
disabilities that lack fire sprinkler protection.
·
Since January
1, 2000, Campus Firewatch has identified 126 fire deaths in
campus related fire fatalities. Over 83% of them have
occurred in off-campus housing where 2/3 of the students
across the nation live. (Campus Fire Watch, January 08)
·
In early 2003,
the “Station” nightclub fire in Rhode Island killed 100
occupants. Still today there are thousands of similar
nightclubs and entertainment venues that need to be
retrofitted with fire sprinklers.
·
Some 3,400
firefighter fatalities have occurred in the 30 year period
of 1977 to 2007. Hundreds more annually receive disabling
injuries, and thousands more suffer pain of injuries and
incur lost time all at the expense to taxpayers. When pain
and death equal more tax dollars, the equation needs to be
changed. Passage of the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act will
cause more buildings to be protected and reduce the
opportunities for firefighters to be exposed to these
dangers and leave them to the myriad of duties they have
been assigned to protect America
·
Recommendation
26 in the National Institute of Standards and Technology
report on the 9/11 disaster states that, “NIST recommends
that state and local jurisdictions should adopt and
aggressively enforce available provisions in building codes
to ensure that egress and sprinkler requirements are met by
existing buildings.”
·
Building
owners do not argue with fire authorities over the logic of
protecting their buildings with fire sprinklers. The issue
is cost! Passage of the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act would
drastically reduce the staggering annual economic toll of
fire in America and thereby dramatically improve the quality
of life for everyone involved. Coupled with the cost savings
associated with insurance discounts, accelerating the
depreciation of the retrofit of fire sprinkler systems will
allow the system to be paid for in a few short years thus
providing safer buildings and the potential of capital
through insurance savings.
