Washington, D.C. - In response to the West Warwick, Rhode Island nightclub tragedy Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), and Congressman James Langevin (D-RI) held a press conference Thursday with a fire survivor and a firefighter who responded to the Rhode Island incident.
Weldon started the press conference saying, "It seems the only time we tend to assemble to these issues is after a tragedy occurs." He wishes to set up standards for fire protection safety laws. He stated, "We have never lost a life when sprinklers were involved in a club fire."
"Maybe we cannot mandate these changes, but we can add tax reductions," he said. And in a statement on his Web site he said, "If we can justify tax incentives to purchase certain types of automobiles or business investments, we can justify incentives for life-saving sprinkler systems."
According to James Dalton from the National Fire Sprinkler Association, "The average cost to retrofit a building with sprinklers is approximately $1.78 per square foot." He also said, "It would take 10 years to cover the cost of the retrofit."
Weldon has been interested in fire prevention for at least 17 years, due to a fire in one of House Speakers
