Fire Safety bargain struck - Senate puts off sprinkler rule for 3 extra years
After 2013, homebuilders will be required to install residential fire sprinklers if a bill passed Tuesday in the S.C. Senate gets final approval. In February, the state building council adopted the international code requiring all new construction to have sprinklers. The new code will go into effect in 2011 if no legislation is passed to prevent it, but the bill that passed the Senate Tuesday would delay the code until Jan. 1, 2014.

Builder Review Daily: HBA of Greenville, South Carolina Sprinkler Bill Wins Key Approval in S.C. Senate
Michael E. Dey, Executive Director of the Home Builders Association of Greenville, writes, "The S.C. Senate today gave second reading to legislation that will prohibit enforcement of automatic fire sprinklers in the International Residential Code until January 1, 2014. This was a compromise that was reached after the Senate invoked cloture on the bill." Dey went on to write, "This is a great win for your Home Builders Association and shows what can happen when we all pull together to fight to protect the home building industry. It also is a major reason for the Home Builders Association to exist-to fight for your industry."

South Carolina Firefighters Urge Lawmakers to Keep Sprinkler Code Insurance Journal - Southeast News
Not abiding by the safety standards could also increase the cost of homeowners' insurance for new and existing homes in 108 communities across the state, depending on a company's rating system, the department detailed in an analysis requested by legislators. Firefighters and fire victims say the economic fight misses the point.
"How much is a life worth?'' asked Princella Lee-Bridges, of Greenville, who spent several months in a drug-induced coma in 1992 after suffering burns on half her body. "If sprinklers had been in my house, I would not have been injured.''

South Carolina Legislation:
H4663 & S1057 increases flood insurance premiums and fire insurance rates, reduces public safety and endangers firefighters by mandating substandard housing throughout South Carolina. Sprinkler Press conference Document

Editorial:South Carolina's Senate decision may impact homeowners' insurance rates
Though it is unclear how much prices could change, said Russ Dubisky, the executive director of the S.C. Insurance News Service, "The Insurance Services Organization does a lot of its rating based off the international building code," he said. "If South Carolina is out of step or substandard to the building code, that would have an impact on their scoring, which could impact insurance rates for South Carolina residents."

Editorial: Sprinklers safest for residents
South Carolina on the verge of giving public safety the back seat
Here's a statistic that may shock you: In the past 30 years, more than 100,000 people in the United States have lost their lives in fires, most often in their own homes, one or two at a time. Laid end-to-end, that line of caskets would extend more than 100 miles. It's a fact that more people die in home fires each year in the United States than in all natural disasters combined. In South Carolina, we consistently rank as one of the worst states in the nation with respect to residential fire deaths, and in just the past four months, 32 of our citizens have perished in home fires.

Editorial: One South Carolina community has fire sprinklers in EVERY home Real Estate Blog - Dewees Island, SC
The Dewees Architecture Resource Board guidelines require that all homes on Dewees have sprinklers in and underneath the homes. A local realtor responds to a mass email concluding, "I respectfully disagree with Mr. Drolet and the SC Realtors Association. We can't protect against every hazard, but fire is a major problem. It costs lives as well as extra insurance money every year. By requiring sprinkler systems, we can make families (and fire fighters) in our state safer. My real estate firm ... urges you to encourage your legislator to vote against S.1057 so that sprinklers will become mandatory in 2011."