I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1194 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify automatic fire 
sprinkler systems as 5-year property for purposes of depreciation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 25, 2009 
Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. PAUL, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. YOUNG of Alas-
ka, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. MORAN of 
Virginia, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. 
HINCHEY, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. 
SCHIFF, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
HINOJOSA, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
ANDREWS, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jer-
sey, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. WILSON of South 
Carolina, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. 
KENNEDY, Mr. FILNER, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. 
WEXLER, Mr. SPACE, Mr. CROWLEY, Mrs. MYRICK, and Mr. KIND) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify 
automatic fire sprinkler systems as 5-year property for 
purposes of depreciation. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Sprinkler Incen-
tive Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) the publication of the original study and 
comprehensive list of recommendations in America 
Burning, written in 1974, requested advances in fire 
prevention through the installation of automatic 
sprinkler systems in existing buildings have yet to be 
fully implemented; 
(2) fire departments responded to more than 
1,500,000 fires in 2007; 
(3) there were 3,430 civilian deaths and 17,675 
civilian injuries resulting from fire in the United 
States in 2007; 
(4) 114 on-duty firefighters were killed in 2008; 
(5) fire caused an estimated $14,639,000,000 
in direct property damage in 2007, and sprinklers 
are responsible for a 70 percent reduction in prop-
erty damage from fires in public assembly, edu-
cational, residential, commercial, industrial and 
manufacturing buildings; 
(6) fire departments respond to a fire every 20 
seconds, a fire breaks out in a structure every 59 
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seconds and in a residential structure every 76 sec-
onds in the United States; 
(7) the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, 
Rhode Island, did not contain an automated sprin-
kler system and burned down, killing 100 people on 
February 20, 2003; 
(8) due to an automated sprinkler system, not 
a single person was injured from a fire beginning in 
the Fine Line Music Cafe´ in Minneapolis after the 
use of pyrotechnics on February 17, 2003; 
(9) the National Fire Protection Association 
has no record of a fire killing more than 2 people 
in a completely sprinklered public assembly, edu-
cational, institutional or residential building where 
the system was properly installed and fully oper-
ational; 
(10) sprinkler systems dramatically improve the 
chances of survival of those who cannot save them-
selves, specifically older adults, young children and 
people with disabilities; 
(11) the financial cost of upgrading fire counter 
measures in buildings built prior to fire safety codes 
is prohibitive for most property owners; 
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