Officials push new law

State and local leaders gathered in Charleston on Friday in hopes of dousing opposition to a new law that requires mandatory sprinkler systems in all new residential construction.

Mayor Joe Riley, Fire Chief Tom Carr and S.C. Fire Marshal John Reich led a press conference at the Charleston Maritime Center that included a demonstration on just how quickly a sprinkler can extinguish a fire: 20 seconds.

"A fire sprinkler will extinguish a fire that's in a corner of a room the same way you can blow out a candle," said Kaaren Mann, whose daughter, Lauren, a University of South Carolina student, was one of seven college students who died in a house fire on Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., in October 2007.

The press conference was in response to some state lawmakers' attempts to counter the state's adoption of the international building code that makes sprinklers a minimum requirement.

The Charleston Trident Home Builders Association, for one, has argued that sprinkler systems should remain an option for homeowners who want one, but should not be mandated.

Sprinkler proponents said a sprinkler system typically costs about $2 a square foot.

Riley said lower insurance rates would offset mortgage increases and add resale value.

Reich said the state is in the bottom 10 states in fire deaths per capita every year.

Charleston County had five fire-related deaths in 2009 and four already in 2010, Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said.

"I believe had a sprinkler system been in place in those houses that we very likely would have saved those lives," she said.

Mann said the one-time cost of sprinklers will pay for themselves by saving the costs of ER visits, lost valuables, increased insurance rates, funerals and the "costs of raising children to the age of 18 to see them pass away."

Reach Andy Paras at 937-5589.