Proposed Changes Turn Fire Chief Against Sprinkler Bill

Los Angeles Fire Chief Donald O. Manning said Thursday that he is withdrawing his support for state legislation requiring installation of fire sprinklers in older high-rises because proposed amendments could weaken the bill and preempt a tougher city proposal.

In a meeting with the Board of Fire Commissioners, Manning said, “I’m doing my best to mobilize against” the bill with the proposed changes.

The legislation, introduced by state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) within days of the devastating blaze at the First Interstate Bank building, would have required older high-rise buildings to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers within three years.

With the backing of the state Fire Chiefs Assn., the Torres measure cleared the Senate on June 9 and was sent to the Assembly where it quickly cleared the Governmental Organization Committee on a 16-0 vote.

Since then, lobbyists representing the state’s commercial landlords and motel and hotel interests have proposed a series of amendments aimed at lengthening the time allowed to install the fire-protection systems, reducing the costs and limiting the power of individual cities to write their own, more restrictive laws.

This issue of a state preemption and a nine-year timetable for installation--both of which are being supported by Torres--are among the worst of the proposed changes, Manning said.

“If it continues in its current mode, I’m going to do what I can to oppose it,” he said.

Manning and the commissioners are backing a proposed city ordinance that would require about 350 city office buildings that are 75 feet or taller to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers within three years. That measure would be preempted if the Torres bill is successfully amended by the real estate lobby.

A spokesman for Torres said the bill has not yet been amended but the senator has informally agreed to amendments that would eliminate local sprinkler retrofitting laws and allow up to nine years for installation in some cases.

“We want a uniform, workable statewide policy,” said Dario Frommer, a spokesman for Torres, who is vacationing out of state. “We want a reasonable law so that we don’t have to write waivers later on.”

Other proposed amendments, such as exemptions from sales tax on sprinkler equipment and local inspection fees, tax credits and permission to use lower-cost plastic pipe, are being negotiated.

Frommer said Torres is against any proposals that would reduce state revenues.

Issues such as approving the use of plastic pipe, which is being fought by organized labor, are still undecided, Frommer said.

And even the preemption and nine-year time limit amendments could be changed before any bill is finally approved by the full Assembly.

But Jerry McFetridge, a consultant to the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, agreed with Torres that a statewide standard is needed. “If it’s thought out right, (the law) should be as good for San Bernardino as it is for Los Angeles.”

The nine-year time frame would apply only to companies facing financial hardships and severe asbestos removal problems. The basic time frame under the proposed amendment would be five years, he said.

Jeff Ely, a spokesman for the Building Owners and Managers Assn., agreed that time and uniformity are the biggest issues and the ones that will be fought most bitterly.

Current state law, adopted in 1974, requires any building more than 75 feet in height to be fitted with fire sprinklers.

The First Interstate Bank tower, which was completed in 1973, had no sprinklers, though a system was being installed when the fire broke out. Fire officials have said that the blaze, which left one man dead and 40 people injured, could have contained without injury if the building had had sprinklers.

The Fire Department’s long-awaited critique of the First Interstate fire, submitted to the commissioners Thursday, confirmed earlier reports of apparent gaffs by building security personnel but broke no new ground.

LAFD officials confirmed that building security personnel turned off and reset a series of fire alarms that were activated when the fire broke out on the 12th floor at about 10:30 p.m. May 4.

But fire authorities were not contacted until 10:37 when three separate calls came in on the emergency 911 number from persons in neighboring buildings.