Fighting for sprinklers

Most people understand that when there's no lifeguard on duty, you swim at your own risk.

Public safety officials and companies that sell fire-fighting sprinklers are hoping that people will come to a similar understanding about buildings that have sprinkler systems, particularly when it comes to deciding where to spend the night.

"The goal is for the public to recognize and appreciate the fact that they have a choice and should always stay overnight in a building protected by an automatic fire sprinkler system," said Mark Ruppel, public information officer for the Charleston Fire Department.

The department is supporting an initiative by the South Carolina Fire Sprinkler Association, whose members are offering "Life Saver On Duty" door stickers to businesses with sprinkler systems.

"We want sprinklers to become synonymous with safety," said association President Jamie Patterson, who is vice president of Lifeguard Fire Protection company in Gilbert.

The idea of drumming up support for sprinkler systems among the public follows years of legislative defeat in South Carolina. Proposals for tougher building codes and new requirements for sprinklers have failed repeatedly, despite events such as the 2004 Comfort Inn fire in Greenville that killed six people.

The latest push for new sprinkler system requirements, in 2008, followed two more deadly blazes in which multiple victims died in buildings without sprinkler systems. Nine Charleston firefighters died in the Sofa Super Store fire in June 2007, and seven students who attended South Carolina colleges were killed at a beach house fire in Ocean Isle, N.C., that October.

Charleston officials sought legislation that would allow cities to go beyond state building codes in requiring new sprinkler systems, but instead, lawmakers approved tax incentives. The incentives take effect only if municipalities adopt them and agree to give up some property tax revenues, and few local governments have done so.

Patterson, who said he has a sprinkler system in his home, said the "Life Saver On Duty" sticker program started in Columbia in January, and Charleston will be the second city where the voluntary program is rolled out. He said fire sprinkler contractors will likely distribute the stickers during annual inspections.

Tripp Hays of the Mills House Hotel in Charleston, also a vice president of the Greater Charleston Hotel & Motel Association, said he was unfamiliar with the initiative.

"The Mills House has sprinklers, and I believe most of the larger hotels in Charleston do as well," he said. "It's pretty standard in our industry."

Patterson agreed that today, most hotels have sprinklers.

"The ones that don't are usually very old or very small, or could be historic," Patterson said.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.