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Fire Codes
I am an Assistant Deputy State Fire Marshal for the State of Rhode Island. It is a non salaried (volunteer) position. My job is to enforce the fire codes of the state for my local fire district. I see a growing pattern of non compliance in home and business owners across the town, and also across the nation. My personal opinion is that there are fire codes for a reason. A lot of times business owners apply for variances to allow them lesser means of fire protection that that required of businesses of the same nature elsewhere. I think the time to tighten the fire codes has come. Too many firefighters, and civilians are being hurt by the negligence of business owners. All too often the words "We just don't have the money to do it" come out, and lets face it, if they weren't making money, they wouldnt be in business. Rescent fires where fire codes could have saved lives and killed firefighter or civilians were Charleston S.C. a furniture store that sure could have had a sprinkler system due to the fire load inside. Due to the fact the building was crowded with merchandise the fire was allowed to grow big for all the fuel provided in such a short space. If there was a sprinkler system inside the building the chance of the fire reaching the size it did would have been minimal. Now because the laws didnt pertain to them, or they were lax in complaince we have dead firefighters. Another example is the Station Nightclub fire in Warwick R.I. In this fire they had polyethelene foam as a soundproofing all over the walls. This was an oversite of the local marshal, and complicated when the bands pyrotechnics ignited the foam. Again, overcrowding was a MAJOR issue, and no sprinkler system inside. NFPA testing PROVED a sprinkler system would have put the fire out. (this was tested multiple times in rooms duplicated in size construction and also the foam.) We need the state lobbyists to jump on board with NFPA and to start sweeping our states to prevent such tradgedy from occuring again. As if our jobs aren't dangerous enough, we can not allow businesses to dictate what they will do and not do, enabling the opportunity for unfortunate accidents to occur.
If you have other fires be it in your town or other national events, feel free to share it here, we all can take a page out from each story and relate to businesses on our town. Even noticing similarities can help each of us form a mental preplan for ourselves. We need to look out for number 1, and that starts on a Fire prevention level before we ever get dispatched to it.
If you have other fires be it in your town or other national events, feel free to share it here, we all can take a page out from each story and relate to businesses on our town. Even noticing similarities can help each of us form a mental preplan for ourselves. We need to look out for number 1, and that starts on a Fire prevention level before we ever get dispatched to it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Terry Lambert on
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This is not a fire story, but it is fire related. I am a Suppression Technician for a large company. I deal with fire suppression systems in rest. kitchen hoods. I see alote of code voilations out there in these kitchens. I see improper coverage, systems that are broken or damaged. You look at these things and wonder if even they will discharge properly. Point in fact, I did an after fire inspection of a rest. fire. The system work'd, and put out the fire that was directly under it, but the rest of the fire had a field day with the kitchen. This one did not work properly though. It did not report to the fire alarm panel, nor sound the alarms and strobes. Nor did it report to the alarm company. The first arriving engine crew, (which was my crew) had no idea of what they where getting into. Miscommunication. Fire was called in as a mulch fire. The crew got with in sight of the structure, and had heavy smoke, and fire shotting out the roof. A 1 alarm fire turned into a 3 alarm fire. The biggest problem I see though, is that these places do not clean there hoods, duct's and plenum's properly. Code states cleaning is to be done 1 -4 times a year, depending on how much and heavy you cook! Grease build up in the duct's and plenum's, and once a fire get's up there, it has all kinds of fuel. We have learned that with today's cooking grease's, water and dry chemicals do not work properly. You have to use a class k agent.(liqued). The codes that govern this are manufacture specifications, UL300, NFPA 17A, NFPA 96, and NFPA 101. When I find these voilations, I can and DO fail the systems. But I can not tell the Managers that they have to stop cooking until these voilations are corrected. It takes a Fire Marshal to do that. But until the insurance companies who underwrite these places start telling them that they need to be incompliance with these codes or else no insurance, not much is going to be done. Most of the systems that I fail, the companies bring in to compliance, but they are nationwide companies and can afford it. It is the little ones, that try and get away with as much as possible. These are the one's that get people killed. Something else for you to look at as a Assistant Deputy State Fire Marshal. Stay safe out there.
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Permalink Reply by JoeGalvan on
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Yes it does take a Fire Marshal to correct that issue but can we close them down? No, we cannot. However we can tell them that the cooking unit cannot be used. Also by IFC they must have a fire watch. So what choice does a restaurant have when they cant cook. They are going to fix it as soon as possible.
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I know that in Fairfax county, the FM's office can shut down a restaurant. I have seen them do it. The FM did it right in front of me, and then told the GM, he could not use the kitchen until the problem was fixed. Between me and the plumber for the gas, it took two days to get that kitchen back online and in code.
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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As a marshal, I have shut down businesses before for infractions. If they have the means to proved adequate fire watch (aka money) they can do so, and that doesnt mean just one at times. The mill that burned in my district has paid for around the clock fire watch in the mill in order to run production to the rest of the place. (they have workers in the burned out area with no features of fire protection.) If you take away the source of them making money they tend to remember how to do things correctly. I on the other hand am only one marshal in one town. It would take an immense effort nationwide to start bringing the safety to the patrons and workers they deserve.
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This is one of my earlier works from the beginning of FFN. It has been buried for quite some time, and deserves to see light again. In every town through training, LODD's we read about on NIOSH reports, Firefighterclosecalls.com has a ton of imput, and yet we STILL see examples on the news everyday on how lax fire codes, or lack of enforcement is killing the citizens we are sworn to protect, and we are still killing firefighters through actions that could have been preventable if the fire codes had been up to date. Whats it going to take for the world to listen, and help protect themselves, and the responders who may someday be there to try and save their establishment?
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