The battle over fire sprinklers in South Carolina

This article from the Huffington Post discusses the effort to suppress codes and regulations that would require fire sprinklers in new homes.

While no one doubts that fire sprinkler systems save lives, a number of associations involved in the residential construction industry have lobbied their lawmakers and state executives to prevent the enactment and enforcement of codes that would require them.

The article takes a long look at the state of South Carolina, under its Governor Nikki Haley: 

To date, industry groups have helped foil efforts to make sprinkler systems mandatory in at least 25 states. That includes New York, where last year a two-year-old girl died in a blaze that fire officials said could have been stopped by sprinklers, and Texas, where the legislature’s ban was retroactive, overturning at least one city’s plan... A close look at the fight over sprinklers in South Carolina — according to government records, emails and dozens of interviews — offers an unusually well-documented portrait of how lobbyists can get their way in state capitals.

Read the full article on the Huffington Post.