By JAMES ROSEN – The State

Kaaren Mann and Bonnie Woodruff share a tragic burden that is almost too painful for them to bear.

Mann’s daughter, Lauren Mahorn, died in the Ocean Isle beach-house fire last October that also killed five other University of South Carolina students and a Clemson University student.

Woodruff’s son, Ben, was one of five UNC-Chapel Hill students who died in the May 1996 fire at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house.

The two mothers joined students and firefighters in Washington this week, lobbying Congress to pass fire-safety measures for colleges and universities.

Mann said her mission is to persuade lawmakers to pass legislation that will get more fire-sprinkler systems installed in dormitories and other student housing.

“We’re hoping that between (tax) incentives and telling people about them, they’ll become as common as seat belts in cars,” Mann said.

U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said he backs a bill that would provide tax credits for installing fire-sprinkler systems in all dwellings, including off-campus housing where two-thirds of the nation’s students live.

“There are many good causes in the world,” Price said at a Capitol Hill briefing to launch September as National Campus Fire Safety Month. “They vie for our attention. This is one that does capture our hearts.”

Price and nine other lawmakers from North Carolina are co-sponsors of the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act, authored by Rep. James Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat.

None of South Carolina’s six U.S. House members has signed onto the bill. U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson said he told Langevin on Tuesday that he wanted to be a co-sponsor of his measure.

Republican U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina are co-sponsors of a Senate version of the bill. Republican U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint of South Carolina have not signed onto it.

U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said Congress recently passed separate legislation requiring all federally funded colleges and universities to maintain extensive fire-safety records and to make them available to the public.

Among the newly required records are the number of dormitory rooms equipped with automatic fire-sprinkler systems and fire alarms.

The measure requires the U.S. Department of Education to report the information to Congress.

“These are tragedies not only for the local communities, but to our entire nation,” Clyburn said.

Columbia Fire Chief Bradley Anderson said schools, homeowners and businesses have been slow to install sprinkler systems.

“We’ve been advocates for residential sprinklers for decades,” he said. “The (Ocean Isle) fire with the students was clearly avoidable with sprinklers.”

Anderson said the majority of USC students live off-campus, where they face greater fire risks than those who live on-campus.

“They’re not afforded the same level of protection in all cases that on-campus students are,” Anderson said.

In the wake of the deadly Chapel Hill and Ocean Isle fires, the legislatures in Raleigh and Columbia passed state laws aimed at getting more sprinklers installed in student housing and other dwellings.

The S.C. bill authorizes state and local tax credits up to a combined half the cost of buying and installing a sprinkler system.

Columbia Fire Marshal Carmen Floyd said new housing units at USC are required to have fire sprinklers, and the university is retrofitting existing halls.

“In the past year, we’ve had four sprinkler activations that have saved lives at USC,” Floyd said.

Benedict College has retrofitted all but one of its dormitories, and Allen University is installing fire sprinklers and monitoring equipment, Anderson and Floyd said.

The State Budget and Control Board in June put a hold on projects that would add fire sprinklers to three USC residence halls. The board was worried about paying for the construction given the state’s depressed revenues.

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