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State legislators don’t anticipate action on fire code until January
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
With the current session of the state Legislature about to conclude, there’s literally no chance state lawmakers will move to tighten fire safety standards for businesses across the state.
“The tragedy that unfolded in Charleston Monday night has touched the lives of everyone in the state, but from a purely legal and procedural perspective, it’s impossible for the Legislature to take this matter up at this time,” said Greg Foster, spokesman for S.C. House speaker Bobby Harrell.
The Legislature is working out the final details of the 2008 state budget, the last hurdle being finding agreement on the state income tax. Once that’s achieved, the session will end, with legislators slated to head back to Columbia next week to address matters vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford.
“Obviously the fire has been a major topic of discussion here, but nothing can be done on this issue until January,” Foster said. “Perhaps that’s how it should be, because before the Legislature moves forward with anything, I’m sure the members are going to want to have meaningful, detailed discussions with fire chiefs from throughout the state.”
The Sofa Super Store destroyed by the fire was 31,300 square feet—well above the state threshold mandating sprinklers for commercial buildings larger than 12,000 square feet.
But because it was an older building, the furniture store at 1807 Savannah Highway was exempt from stricter building codes dating to the early 1990s.
Charleston County Fire Chief R.B. “Rusty” Thomas Jr., who stayed through the night at the scene of the fire on Monday and personally lead the retrieval of all nine fallen firefighters from the building, confirmed that the building did not have sprinklers.
Asked how such a system could have altered the events of Monday night, Thomas said a sprinkler system “certainly would have slowed the spread of the fire.”
While he still will not discuss whether he believes sprinklers would have saved his men’s lives, Thomas has called on state lawmakers to make them mandatory for all businesses in buildings the size of the one occupied by the furniture retailer.
Charleston Mayor Joe P. Riley Jr. said during a news conference the building was “grandfathered in” because it predated stricter codes. However, he went on to say that it’s unclear whether the building underwent any significant modifications since the tougher code went into effect.
That would have required sprinklers to be installed, he said.
The store is owned by Herbert Goldstein, who bought it in 1995, according to Charleston County records.
Goldstein, who lives on nearby Sullivan’s Island, also owns several residential properties in the area. There is one other Sofa Super Store in the Charleston area, located at 8551 Rivers Ave. in North Charleston.
In his only public comment since the tragedy, a written statement posted on the Sofa Super Store Web site, Goldstein said all who are connected with the business were heartbroken and devastated by the tragedy.
“There are no words to express our sorrow. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the heroic firefighters who lost their lives,” he said.
The building that housed the Super Sofa Store was about 50 years old and at one point was a Piggly Wiggly grocery store.
Prior to the mid-1990s, there was no black line standard for when sprinklers must be installed in a business. Generally, the threshold was that buildings larger than 15,000-square feet needed to have them, but there were also mitigating factors, such as what building materials were used, that went into the determination.
A wood structure would have to have sprinklers, for instance, while one constructed of masonry might not.
Although the threshold for sprinklers was lowered to 12,000 square feet, material composition and age were still significant considerations as to whether sprinklers were required.
State lawmakers last attempted to address the issue of sprinklers in commercial establishments three years ago, after six people were killed in a hotel fire in Greenville.
In the aftermath of that tragedy, lawmakers considered a bill that would have required most hotels in the state to be retrofitted with sprinklers. That bill died, however, after hotel owners said the retrofits would be too costly.
Instead, the state requires hotels without sprinklers to display a sign in the lobby that informs patrons that they don’t have them.
Joel Sawyer, a Sanford spokesman, said while the governor is following developments in Charleston closely, he also has no plans to introduce new or emergency fire safety measures in the near term.
“But he’s certainly interested in taking a look at whatever the Legislature comes up with,” Sawyer said.
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