NVFC says it can’t support a House bill on hotel sprinklers
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A House bill that would require the installation of fire sprinklers in hotels and motels proposes to penalize the wrong people for noncompliance, says the National Volunteer Fire Council. [Fire Engineering has taken a similar position; see the Editor’s Opinion on page 6.]
If any state failed to adopt and enforce the sprinkler regulations within a year after the Federal Emergency Management Agency promulgated them, that state’s firefighters would be banned from taking courses at the National Fire Academy in Maryland.
The NVFC “supports the idea behind a proposed law requiring installation of fire sprinkler systems in hotels and motels,” says chairman E. James Monihan. But “asking firefighters to bear sole responsibility for the action of their state legislatures is just not fair.”
H.R. 3704’s sponsors—Pennsylvania Democrat Doug Walgren, New York Republican Sherwood Boehlert, and New Mexico Republican Manuel Lujan—are planning hearings at which the NVFC plans to offer testimony.
