Senator demands tougher fire codes

COLUMBIA - An Upstate senator called for tougher fire regulations and incentives to retrofit buildings with sprinklers after a Sunday morning fire killed six people at a Greenville motel.

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Four bodies, including a toddler's, were found in a third-floor hallway trying to escape the building, and two other bodies were found in rooms on the same level. When it was built 20 years ago, the building met codes that didn't require sprinklers.

Sen. David Thomas, R-Fountain Inn, said the state needs to do more to prevent such tragedies in the future in all public places where people may gather, including schools and auditoriums.

"We're going to have to look very, very closely now at everything that has been constructed," Mr. Thomas said.

Putting sprinklers into new construction is far less expensive than retrofitting existing structures, but Mr. Thomas said the state can provide insurers and businesses with incentives to encourage that.

"You can encourage the companies themselves with tax deductions, and you can encourage the insurance companies insuring those companies to give those incentives" through policy discounts, said Mr. Thomas, the Senate's Banking and Insurance chairman.

The senator also wants signs warning people that they may be at places lacking sprinklers.

--From the Friday, January 30, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle