[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 144 (Thursday, September 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S5071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 845. Mr. STRANGE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2018 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. __. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FIRE PROTECTION IN DEPARTMENT 
                   OF DEFENSE FACILITIES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) A 2009 Consumer Product Safety Commission study found a 
     full 370,000 residential fires are suppressed by portable 
     fire extinguishers annually.
       (2) Throughout the United States, of the 48,460 fires in 
     buildings equipped with sprinklers from 2007 to 2011, 40,440, 
     or 83 percent, never grew large enough to activate 
     sprinklers, indicating many fires are successfully suppressed 
     by portable fire extinguishers.
       (3) Section 9-17.1 of the Unified Facilities Criteria 3-
     600-01 changes the Department of Defense building code by 
     stating, ``General purpose portable fire extinguishers are 
     not required when the Facility is provided with complete 
     automatic sprinkler protection and a fire alarm system in 
     accordance with this UFC.''
       (4) This new language is a departure from national model 
     fire codes, and is also a significant change from the last 
     Unified Criteria governing portable extinguishers.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) portable fire extinguishers are essential to the safety 
     of members of the Armed Forces and their families;
       (2) the current United Facilities Criteria provides members 
     of the Armed Forces, their families, and other Department of 
     Defense personnel with less fire protection than that of 
     civilian counterparts by deviating from fire safety codes 
     used across the country and not requiring portable 
     extinguishers on military installations;
       (3) United Facilities Criteria 3-600-01, Section 4-9, dated 
     September 26, 2006, clearly keeps Department of Defense 
     Facilities in line with the national and international 
     standards for fire safety; and
       (4) the Secretary of Defense should amend current United 
     Facilities Criteria Section 9-17.1 to reflect the standards 
     established by United Facilities Criteria 3-600-01, Section 
     4-9, dated September 26, 2006.
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