[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 155 (Thursday, October 30, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13661-S13663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HOLLINGS (for himself, Mr. Breaux, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Boxer, 
        Mr. Graham of South Carolina, Mr. Chafee and Mr. Reed):
  S. 1798. A bill to provide for comprehensive fire safety standards 
for upholstered furniture, mattresses, bedclothing, and candles; to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, this Congress has worked towards 
providing the brave men and women who fight fires the funds and 
material to better perform their crucial tasks. We all saw brave 
members of the fire service sacrifice their lives to rescue people from 
the World Trade Center. But we do not see firefighters in every town in 
America risking their lives every day to save lives and homes from the 
ravages of fire. I lost a home to a severe fire, and I saw the 
herculean efforts of my local firefighters to save it. Too many people 
die or suffer grievous injuries from home fires. During a recent visit 
with the firefighters from my home State of South Carolina, they told 
me that in spite of their best efforts, nearly 40 people die each year 
from home fires.
  In my conversations with fire services across the country, I hear two 
things. First, the departments need funds for equipment and training. 
With the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement grant program, 
we are on our way to getting these people the resources they need to do 
their job. There is more work to do, but this grant program is a start. 
Second, and most troubling, is that the best-equipped and best-trained 
fire departments cannot out race most home fires.
  A recent FEMA-commissioned study from the National Fire Protection 
Association reported that 65 percent of our fire departments cannot 
respond within 4 minutes of receiving an alarm. The fire that engulfed 
the nightclub in Rhode Island is an unfortunate example of what we are 
dealing with in regard to fire fighting and fire safety. The fire 
department arrived within 5 minutes of the fire starting, which is 
exceptionally fast, yet 100 people died that night. Most of them died 
within 2 minutes of the fire starting.
  Addressing the equipment and training of the fire service is one very 
important component to fighting fires. We've begun to address this need 
in recent years with the Firefighter Investment and Response 
Enhancement

[[Page S13662]]

(FIRE) Act, which I co-sponsored and helped move through the Commerce 
Committee in 2000. This established the FIRE grants that have helped 
local fire departments across the country acquire the equipment and 
training to improve their operations. I've also worked with Senator 
Chris Dodd, D-CT, on the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency 
Response (SAFER) Act, which would provide the funding to hire 75,000 
new firefighters. The legislation is modeled on the success of the COPS 
program.
  But the soundproofing materials that fed that fire in Rhode Island 
are identical to ingredients used in furniture in our homes. Indeed, 
the majority of fire deaths occur in homes. So we must address the 
underlying causes of home fires, the fuel that feeds them. We need to 
reduce the ignition potential of household items.
  In 1998, residential fires killed 2,660 Americans, and injured 
15,260. Senior citizens over 70 and children under 5 are at the 
greatest risk of dying in a fire; children under the age of 10 
accounted for 17 percent of fire-related deaths in 1996. Fires also 
cause $3.5 billion in residential property loss each year.

  It is in this context that Senators John Breaux, D-LA, Olympia Snowe, 
R-ME, Barbara Boxer, D-CA, Byron Dorgan, D-ND, Lindsey Graham, R-SC and 
I introduce the American Home Fire Safety Act. The Act would establish 
minimum combustibility standards for mattresses, upholstered furniture, 
candles and bed clothing. American manufacturers already have cost-
effective technology to improve the safety of these products, and are 
ready to make products that meet the higher standards.
  The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission already has the 
authority to set fire safety standards for these products. Yet, despite 
overwhelming evidence that new standards would save lives, the 
Commission has been slow to address this issue. There are some who ask 
for more time for the Commission to work on this issue. More than 20 
years have passed since the Commission has addressed product fire 
safety. There is no more time to waste.
  We have taken great care to select standards that were developed with 
the best available science and broad input from scientists at NIST and 
ASTM, fire safety officials, industry and consumers. The Act explicitly 
asks the EPA to ensure that nothing done in the pursuit of fire safety 
would harm Americans in other ways. The standards in the Act will 
improve safety and over time will save many lives.
  Companies have the technology right now to address fire safety in an 
economically responsible way. The number of lives we lose now to home 
fires can be dramatically reduced by the standards in this legislation. 
I ask for your support in making this a reality.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1798

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``American Home Fire Safety 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) There were 12,800 candle fires in 1998, resulting in 
     170 deaths, 1,200 civilian injuries, and $174,600,000 in 
     property damage.
       (2) In 1998, mattress and bedding fires caused 410 deaths, 
     2,260 civilian injuries, and $255,400,000 in property damage.
       (3) The United States mattress industry has a long history 
     of working closely with safety officials to reduce mattress 
     flammability. For the past 25 years, mattresses have been 
     subject to a Federal flammability standard that requires 
     mattresses to resist ignition by smoldering cigarettes.
       (4) Nevertheless, in 1998, fires involving mattresses and 
     bedding accessories (which include pillows, comforters, and 
     bedspreads) caused 410 deaths, 2,260 civilian injuries, and 
     $255,400,000 in property damage.
       (5) In many such fires, the bedding accessories are the 
     first products to ignite. Such products have a material 
     impact on the fire's intensity, duration, and the risk that 
     the fire will spread beyond the room of origin.
       (6) Upholstered furniture fires were responsible for 520 
     deaths in 1998, with little statistical change in the number 
     of fires and deaths since 1994.
       (7) While the fire death rates for upholstered furniture 
     fires have dropped during the period 1982 through 1994 for 
     both California and the entire Nation, death rates in 
     California, which has stricter standards, have dropped by a 
     larger percentage than the nation as a whole.
       (8) Children, the elderly, and lower income families are at 
     higher risk of death and injury from upholstered furniture 
     fires caused primarily by the in creasing incidents of 
     children playing with matches, candles, lighters, or other 
     small open flames.
       (9) In view of the increased incidents of fire, it is 
     important for Congress to establish fire safety standards for 
     candles, mattresses, bed clothing, and upholstered furniture.
       (10) The Consumer Product Safety Commission is the 
     appropriate agency to develop and enforce such standards.
       (11) The Environmental Protection Agency should continue to 
     review and determine the suitability of any materials used to 
     meet any fire safety standard established as a result of this 
     Act.
       (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
       (1) to protect the public against death and injury from 
     fires associated with candles, mattresses, bed clothing, and 
     upholstered furniture; and
       (2) to require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to 
     develop and issue comprehensive uniform safety standards to 
     reduce the flammability of candles, mattresses, bed clothing, 
     and upholstered furniture.

     SEC. 3. CONSUMER PRODUCT FIRE SAFETY STANDARDS.

       (a) In General.--Within 90 days after the date of enactment 
     of this Act, the Consumer Product Safety Commission shall 
     promulgate, as final consumer product safety standards under 
     section 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 
     2058), the following fire safety standards:
       (1) Upholstered furniture.--A fire safety standard for 
     upholstered furniture that is substantially the same as the 
     provisions of Technical Bulletin 117, ``Requirements, Test 
     Procedure and Apparatus for testing the Flame and Smolder 
     Resistance of Upholstered Furniture)'' published by the State 
     of California, Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Home 
     Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, February 2002.
       (2) Mattresses.--A fire safety standard for mattresses that 
     is substantially the same as Technical Bulletin 603, 
     ``Requirements and Test Procedure for Resistance of a 
     Residential Mattress/Box Spring Set to a Large Open Flame'', 
     published by the State of California, Department of Consumer 
     Affairs, Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, 
     February 2003.
       (3) Bedclothing.--A fire safety standard for bedclothing 
     that is substantially the same as the October 22, 2003, draft 
     for task force review of Technical Bulletin 604, ``Test 
     Procedure and Apparatus for the Flame Resistance of Filled 
     Bedclothing'', published by the State of California, 
     Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Home Furnishings 
     and Thermal Insulation, October 2003.
       (4) Candles.--A fire safety standard for candles that is 
     substantially the same as Provisional Standard PS 59-02, 
     ``Provisional Specification for Fire Safety for Candles'', 
     ASTM International, as that provisional standard existed on 
     the date of enactment of this Act.
       (b) Application of Certain Promulgation Requirements.--The 
     requirements of subsections (a) through (f) of section 9 of 
     the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2058), and section 
     36 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 2083), do not apply to the consumer 
     product safety standards required to be promulgated by 
     subsection (a) of this section.

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the American 
Home Fire Safety Act authored by my colleague Senator Hollings. I am 
pleased to co-sponsor this legislation along with Senators Graham of 
South Carolina, Breaux, Boxer and Dorgan. While the purpose of our bill 
is to require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to implement 
national standards for mattresses, upholstered furniture, candles and 
bedding, our ultimate goal is to save lives.
  According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission and the National 
Fire Protection Association, in 1998, the last year for which 
statistics are available, American homes suffered over 330,000 fires 
serious enough to require a response from firefighters. In those fires, 
more than 2,600 Americans died and another 15,000 suffered injuries 
requiring medical treatment. The property loss from those fires totaled 
over $3.5 billion.
  Of the many items first ignited in residential fires, upholstered 
furniture is the product most frequently involved in fire deaths (20 
percent) followed by mattresses and bedding (15 percent). Among the 
different forms of heat involved in the ignition of fires, smoking 
materials accounted for 30 percent of fire deaths with candles 
accounting for six percent of the fire deaths, followed by lighters at 
five percent and matches at three percent.
  Effective fire protection depends on redundancy. Public education, 
building

[[Page S13663]]

codes, smoke detectors, and automatic fire sprinklers each are 
important but imperfect tools where they exist--and too often they do 
not. The fact is that even with these tools available, more than 900 
Americans--that's five of our fellow citizens every two days--die every 
year in fires involving cigarettes, small open flames such as candles, 
upholstered furniture, mattresses and bedding.
  Those are the numbers--but there is a tragedy behind every one of 
them. Let me speak just for a moment about one such tragedy that 
visited my state one cold night in January of 2000. That night a young 
boy of six playing with a lighter ignited the sofa bed he was on and in 
the ensuing fire he and his two brothers--they were triplets--perished. 
But the tragedy doesn't stop there because one of the volunteer 
firefighters who responded that night, Waldo County Sheriff Robert 
Jones, suffered a fatal heart attack while fighting the blaze. No, Mr. 
President, this is not just about the numbers--although they are 
staggering--it is about the human tragedy.
  The American Home Fire Safety Act will require the United States 
Consumer Product Safety Commission to enforce specific fire safety 
standards for each of these products. These are not new, burdensome 
standards--in fact, they are standards already established by the 
American Society of Testing and Materials or the state of California. 
American manufacturers of mattresses, upholstered furniture, candles 
and bedding have already developed cost-effective technology and 
processes to make these household goods less flammable than current 
products. Collectively--and in combination with existing fire 
protection technologies--we hope to save hundreds of lives, avoid 
thousands of serious injuries and billions of dollars in lost property.
  Finally, I would like to point out that this legislation has been 
endorsed by the National Fire Protection Association, the National 
Volunteer Fire Council, the Western Fire Chiefs Association, the 
National Association of State Fire Marshals and numerous state Fire 
Chief's Associations. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to 
establish national standards for some of the household products at the 
core of residential fires. By doing so, perhaps we can spare our fellow 
Americans needless suffering.
                                 ______