I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1824
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 
APRIL 11, 2003
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. LANGEVIN) introduced 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,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Sprinkler Incen-
tive Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that—
(1) since the publication of the original study 
and comprehensive list of recommendations in Amer-
ica 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 approxi-
mately 1.7 million fires in 2001; 
(3) there were 3,745 non-terrorist related 
deaths in the United States and almost 21,000 civil-
ian injuries resulting from fire in 2001; 
(4) 99 firefighters were killed in 2001, exclud-
ing the terrorist acts on September 11th; 
(5) fire caused $8.9 billion in direct property 
damage in 2001, and sprinklers are responsible for 
a 43 to 70 percent reduction in property damage 
from fires in public assembly, educational, residen-
tial, commercial, industrial and manufacturing build-
ings; 
(6) fire departments respond to a fire every 18 
seconds, a fire breaks out in a structure every 60 
seconds and in a residential structure every 80 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 99 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 two 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) most property owners are incapable of up-
grading fire counter measures in buildings built 
prior to fire safety codes due to the financial cost of 
retrofitting; 
(12) many State and local governments lack 
any requirements for new structures to contain auto-
matic sprinkler systems; 
(13) under the present straight-line method of 
depreciation, there is a disincentive for building safe-
ty improvements due to an extremely low rate of re-
turn on investment; and
(14) the Nation is in need of incentives for the 
voluntary installation and retrofitting of buildings 
with automated sprinkler systems to save the lives of 
countless individuals and responding firefighters as 
well as drastically reduce the costs from property 
damage. 
SEC. 3. CLASSIFICATION OF AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLER 
SYSTEMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (B) of section 
168(e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 
to 5-year property) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end of clause (v), by striking the period at the end of 
clause (vi) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(vii) any automatic fire sprinkler sys-
tem.’’. 
(b) ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM.—The table contained in 
section 168(g)(3)(B) of such Code is amended by inserting 
after the third item the following:
‘‘(B)(vii) ....................................................................................................
7’’.
(c) DEFINITION OF AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLER 
SYSTEM.—Subsection (i) of section 168 of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(15) AUTOMATED FIRE SPRINKLER SYSTEM.—
The term ‘automated fire sprinkler system’ means 
those sprinkler systems classified under one or more
of the following publications of the National Fire 
Protection Association—
‘‘(A) NFPA 13, Installation of Sprinkler 
Systems, 
‘‘(B) NFPA 13 D, Installation of Sprin-
kler Systems in One and Two Family Dwellings 
and Manufactured Homes, and 
‘‘(C) NFPA 13 R, Installation of Sprinkler 
Systems in Residential Occupancies up to and 
Including Four Stories in Height.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to property placed in service after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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