[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 23 (Thursday, March 3, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S2021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Reed):
  S. 512. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify 
automatic fire sprinkler systems as 5-year property for purposes of 
depreciation; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. SANTORUM. I rise today to introduce with Senator Rockefeller the 
bipartisan Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2005. Passage of this Act 
would serve greatly to help reduce the tremendous annual economic and 
human losses that fire in the United States inflicts on the national 
economy and quality of life.
  In the United States, fire departments responded to approximately 1.7 
million fires in 2002. Annually, over 500,000 of these are structural 
fires causing approximately 3,400 deaths, around 100 of which are 
firefighters. Fire also caused some 18.5 million civilian injuries and 
$10.3 billion in direct property loss. The indirect cost of fire in the 
United States annually exceeds $80 billion. These losses are 
staggering. All of this translates to the fact that fire departments 
respond to a fire every 18 seconds. Every 60 seconds a fire breaks out 
in a structure, and in a residential structure every 80 seconds.
  There are literally thousands of high-rise buildings built under 
older codes that lack adequate fire protection. Billions of dollars 
were spent to make these and other buildings handicapped accessible, 
but people with disabilities now occupying these buildings are not 
adequately protected from fire. At recent code hearings, 
representatives of the health care industry testified that there are 
approximately 4,200 nursing homes that need to be retrofitted with fire 
sprinklers. They further testified that the billion dollar cost of 
protecting these buildings with fire sprinklers would have to be raised 
through corresponding increases in Medicare and Medicaid. In addition 
to the alarming number of nursing homes lacking fire sprinkler 
protection, there are literally thousands of assisted living facilities 
housing older Americans and people with disabilities that lack fire 
sprinkler protection.
  The solution resides in automatic sprinkler systems that are usually 
triggered within 4 minutes of ignition when the temperature rises above 
120 degrees. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has no 
record of a fire killing more than two people in a public assembly, 
educational, institutional, or residential building that has fully 
operational sprinklers. Furthermore, sprinklers are responsible for 
dramatically reducing property loss, from as low as 42 percent to as 
high as 70 percent depending on the structure.
  Building owners do not argue with fire authorities over the logic of 
protecting their building with fire sprinklers. The issue is cost. This 
bill would drastically reduce the staggering annual economic toll of 
fire in America and thereby dramatically improve the quality of live 
for everyone involved. This legislation provides a tax incentive for 
businesses to install sprinklers through the use of a 5-year 
depreciation period, opposed to the current 27.5 or 39-year period for 
installations in residential rental and non-residential real property 
respectively. While only a start, the bill will help eliminate the 
massive losses seen in nursing homes, nightclubs, office buildings, 
apartment buildings, manufacturing facilities, and other for-profit 
entities.
  This bill enjoys support from a variety of organizations. They 
include: the American Insurance Association, the American Fire 
Sprinkler Association, the California Department of Forestry and Fire 
Protection, Campus Firewatch, Congressional Fire Services Institute, 
Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, International 
Association of Arson Investigators, International Association of Fire 
Chiefs, International Fire Service Training Association, National Fire 
Protection Association, National Fire Sprinkler Association, National 
Volunteer Fire Council, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and 
the Mechanical Contractors Asociation of America.
  The Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2005 provides long-needed safety 
incentives for building owners that will help fire departments across 
the country save lives. I ask my colleagues for their support of this 
important piece of legislation.
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