The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), the longest-tenured fire sprinkler advocacy organization in the U.S., is continuing its four-year effort to pass legislation that will provide landmark fire protection laws that are destined to save lives and property.
The NFSA has spent the past four years working in conjunction with many allied support groups in an effort to pass this fire protection legislation. The NFSA has worked with the Congressional Fire Services Institute as well as both Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and John Rockefeller (D-WV) to prepare the legislation for re-introduction.
Additionally, the NFSA has been working with Congressmen Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) on a House version of the bill that will be introduced soon.Senators Smith, Rockefeller, Jack Reed (D-RI) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) teamed up to introduce the Senate version of the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2007, bill S 582, in the 110th Congress on Feb. 14, 2007.
This bill will allow property owners who retrofit their buildings with fire sprinklers to accelerate depreciation of the systems and recoup their investment in a much shorter period of time versus the 39 years currently in place. The bill will give property owners a significant incentive to install fire sprinkler systems on a retrofit basis.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, when sprinklers are present, the chances of dying in a fire are reduced by one-half to three-fourths and the average property loss per fire is cut by one-half to two-thirds, compared to fires where sprinklers are not present.
“This bill will greatly benefit not only members of our organization but also the general public,” said John Viniello, President of NFSA. “It is proven that sprinklers save lives and property, but they also lower insurance costs for owners and create an increased need for materials and installation services by our members.”
