Water system extinguishes sprinkler fees By Tony Bartelme (Contact) The Post and Courier Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Officials hope move will encourage businesses to retrofit their buildings The Charleston Water System on Tuesday axed its hefty impact and connection fees for customers who install automated fire sprinklers in the first significant policy change by a local government agency since last month's deadly fire at the Sofa Super Store. The utility's commissioners also voted to reduce monthly charges for customers who already have sprinklers, a move that will save businesses across the area thousands of dollars a year. "This is a great leadership opportunity for the state and our country," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who also is one of the utility's commissioners. The Sofa Super Store fire put a spotlight on the utility's policy of charging some businesses as much as $100,000 or more in impact and connection fees, among the highest in South Carolina. Fire-safety experts and others said the impact fees make no sense because automated fire sprinklers often douse fires before they grow into full-blown conflagrations, saving utilities huge volumes of water. The Sofa Super Store, which burned June 18, killing nine Charleston firefighters, didn't have sprinklers. Water system officials estimated that firefighters poured more than a million gallons on the building. Riley said the utility's decision Tuesday was "emotionally driven" but "it's a sound decision, and it's the right decision." He noted that the utility doesn't charge anyone when firefighters use hydrants, and that the same principle should apply to those who have sprinklers. Under the new plan, the utility eliminated impact fees and reduced monthly charges by 80 percent - or as much as $2,145 a year for a typical sprinkler line. The changes go into effect immediately. Thomas Pritchard, chairman of the board of commissioners, said he hopes more business owners will retrofit their buildings. "We've eliminated an excuse," he said. "I hope people won't hide behind the cost of actually installing a fire suppression system." He urged state lawmakers to provide other incentives to encourage people to install sprinklers. Water system officials estimated that eliminating the fees and reducing the monthly charges may cost the utility as much as $3 million a year. David Rivers, another commissioner, urged the utility staff to "do more with less" instead of spreading the revenue loss among ratepayers. For years fire safety experts have characterized sprinklers as one of the most effective ways to control fires. The National Fire Protection Association said that they cut the risk of death and property damage by at least half and often by two-thirds. The group knows of no fire that killed more than two people in a building properly outfitted with sprinklers. Walter Carr, a business owner in Hanahan, welcomed the commissioners' vote. He said he was on a construction project a few years ago, and that the building's owner had the choice between putting in sprinklers or installing sheetrock to create some fire walls. Carr said that the owner went with the sheetrock because of the water system's high impact fees. He predicted that more property owners will now install sprinklers, adding that the utility's move was a "minuscule silver lining" generated by the Sofa Super Store fire. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
