Voluntary fire upgrades insufficient

It may be too soon to gauge the response to the Charleston Water System's dramatically reduced cost of connecting and operating sprinkler systems in local commercial establishments. But the voluntary approach alone seems inadequate in view of the tragic deaths of nine firemen in the June 18 Sofa Super Store inferno.

According to our recent report, only one local company has retrofitted its building to take advantage of the new, sharply reduced Water System rates approved in the aftermath of the fire. Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., who supported the fee reduction, has said he believes the fire would have had a different outcome if the Sofa Super Store building had been equipped with sprinklers.

Not only were impact fees eliminated for separate metered sprinkler systems, but the monthly fees were reduced by 80 percent. According to our report, some 28 new buildings planned for construction will get the benefit of the new rates.

The city's chief building inspector and fire code inspector, Tom Scholtens, tells us he doesn't find the slow response to the reduced rates from owners of existing buildings necessarily discouraging. Assessing how to finance the additional expense can take time, he said. There already have been numerous inquiries, he said, predicting that within the next six months many more will take advantage of the fee reductions.

It should be noted that not even all new commercial buildings require sprinkler systems. The kind of fire suppression system depends, according to Mr. Scholtens, on the size and use of the facility. Sprinklers, he said, generally are the preferred system for larger buildings. At issue is whether the Legislature will require retrofitting of existing commercial buildings in the wake of the Sofa Super Store tragedy, in view of its refusal to remove "grandfather" protections after six people were killed in a motel fire in Greenville three years ago.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell contends that the previous approach was too sweeping. He says every lodging facility in the state, including historic bed and breakfasts, would have been required to have a sprinkler system, regardless of the kind of construction. The senator says he will support a "more common sense approach" that would concentrate on buildings that pose a particular fire hazard due, for example, to the storage of combustibles, or on buildings that present an abnormal danger to firemen.

"We don't need to grandstand," he said. "Instead, we need to be proactive." After assessing the types of existing buildings that present an unusual risk, the senator says tax incentives should be created to soften the expense of any required retrofitting.

Obviously the greatest incentive to owners of existing buildings that store highly flammable materials should be the prevention of another disaster like the one that occurred at the Sofa Super Store. But the citizens of this state can't count on that kind of voluntary enlightenment. This statewide safety issue is within the Legislature's purview and lawmakers should act in January with dispatch.