Senators kill proposal to require sprinklers in hotels

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Sen. Verne Smith, a Greer Republican who proposed the sprinkler bill after a Greenville hotel fire killed six in January, said he couldn't overcome opposition from a group of Charleston lawmakers who argued the bill would be onerous for historic lodgings in their city.

Family members of those killed in January in the Comfort Inn fire said they were disappointed but not surprised.

"No one is going to see this sign," said Nancy Smith, who lost her foster daughter in the fire. "They are going to be tired and go to their room and somebody else is going to die."

The proposal doesn't require that the signs state whether hotels actually have sprinklers.

Mary Barfield, whose 19-year-old daughter, Allison, died in the fire, said she doesn't believe that her daughter's life and death matter to the Legislature.

"What's important is making their constituents happy in Charleston to keep them from spending $100,000," she said tearfully.

Sen. Ralph Anderson, a Greenville Democrat, said while he supported the sprinkler bill, the sign notification could make hotel guests more alert.

"And it would be their choice," he said. "So it wouldn't be like they're not aware."

Investigators have ruled that the January fire at Comfort Inn was arson. The five-story hotel didn't have sprinklers and wasn't required to have them because it was built in the 1980s. Wade Hampton Fire Chief Gary Downey has said sprinklers would have saved at least some of the guests.

Seven lawsuits have been filed against the owners or operators of the hotel, including one by Keith Barfield, the father of Allison. The suit alleges the owner and operator failed to provide adequate security, proper staff training or smoke detectors. In response to previous suits, the owners and operators have denied wrongdoing.

Smith, who chairs the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, had proposed that all hotels in the state be fitted with sprinklers by July 2007. A compromise in March had proposed that only hotels taller than three stories be required to have sprinklers.

Charleston lawmakers opposed that idea as well.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, a Charleston Republican who sits on the LCI subcommittee, said in March the bill could put Charleston historic lodgings out of business "or is just impractical to comply."

Smith said he was convinced his bill couldn't pass the Senate because of the Charleston opposition.

"I'm tired of butting my head against a brick wall," he said Wednesday. "They don't want anybody messing in their business. They've been that way ever since they caused the Civil War."

Smith said the bill is needed in the state but that Senate rules now allow a minority to control legislation.

Sen. Billy Odell, a Ware Shoals Republican who chairs the subcommittee which passed the amended bill Wednesday, said the action was the best lawmakers could do this year.

"I don't think it's adequate but we'll work on it again," he said.

The amended bill requires the sign to be 8½ by 11 inches, "posted in a conspicuous place at or near the registration desk."

The sign must read, "This facility is not required by law to have a fire sprinkler system." The bill sets a penalty of $2,000 for each day that hotels without sprinklers don't post the sign.

The sign idea came from a bill by Sen. David Thomas of Fountain Inn, who also suggested that hotels be notified of potential insurance savings from sprinklers. The new bill also requires insurance companies to provide savings estimates in their renewal notices.

Thomas said the bill would shift more of the burden and responsibility of fire protection to consumers, who will choose whether to stay in lodgings without sprinklers. If the notices prompt a drop in business, he said, it may force hotels to install sprinklers.

The amended bill later was passed by Smith's full committee and sent to the Senate.

A bill similar to Smith's legislation requiring sprinklers also stalled in the House, according to its sponsor, Rep. Bob Leach of Greenville. He said some lawmakers opposed the bill because they believe government imposes too many regulations.

Barfield said lawmakers should at least require that hotels have working, audible fire alarms, monthly inspections of fire equipment, regular fire drills and training for staffers.

"Common sense doesn't cost anything," she said.

Barfield said the fire has devastated her family, including her husband.

"The man wakes up in tears because he thinks about what his daughter was thinking when she stepped out of that room," she said.

"We don't go anywhere. We don't do anything. He doesn't smile. He doesn't laugh. There's no joy because his 19-year-old baby died this way."