Keene took a big step last week toward dealing with a potential public safety issue. The city hired a contracted fire marshal whose job will entail specifically dealing with fire code violations and inspections.
The city said in a news release that Rick Wood, the new marshal in town, will supervise the fire department’s Fire Prevention and Inspection Division and the city’s Community Development Department. He will review the fire and building permitting and inspections processes, and enforcement programs that are necessary to handle deficiencies and non-compliance issues. He’ll also examine training and customer service processes, while creating an ongoing program to address blight issues.
That’s a lot, and it’s telling that the region’s biggest fire department, with a chief, deputy chief, administrator, two fire prevention staffers and a training officer, needs such a boost. While efficiency and customer service are a big part of the contracted duties, the city’s fire department has one main function: public safety. And, notably, the biggest recent spotlight on the department came over fire safety inspections.
When it comes to safety issues, attention is usually drawn by adverse incidents, especially tragic ones. Consider how vehicle and road safety changes often follow fatal crashes. Fire codes in the U.S. weren’t created until several huge and disastrous fires forced the hands of officials (think of Boston’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub blaze in 1942 or, earlier, the New York garment district fires that killed hundreds). Previously, exits were routinely locked in multi-story factories and entertainment venues, and too many people were allowed to gather or work in dangerous conditions.
The codes are both a commonsense response to such egregious incidents and a nod to the twin engines that drive much of our regulatory machinery, even more so than public outrage — insurance and lawsuits.
In Keene, these aspects have come together around the Cobblestone blaze that destroyed several businesses and apartments downtown in 2022. Fortunately, no one was killed in the fire, but it spawned something of a scandal within the fire department, as the city’s firefighters union charged that departmental understaffing had led to a backlog of more than 1,000 fire-code violations at city businesses, including a griddle fryer/cooktop at Cobblestone. The city manager attributed the backlog to computer software issues and then-Fire Chief Mark Howard said the violations were not a crisis. Within a few weeks, the list had been about cut in half.
And now, the restaurant’s insurer has filed suit in the county court, alleging negligence in their servicing and maintenance responsibilities with that griddle fryer/cooktop.
Recently departed city Fire Chief Donald Farquhar told The Sentinel that backlog has since been dealt with. This is good news, because upon becoming chief in 2022, soon after the Cobblestone fire, Farquhar had said that while it was somewhat overstated, the backlog meant the department did not have a firm grasp on the safety in those buildings.
Note, too, that the backlog was in making sure violations cited during previous inspections had been corrected, not indicative that inspections weren’t taking place to begin with. And as Farquhar said last week, with the help of the state Fire Marshal’s Office, the city retooled its inspection process, streamlining it in cooperation with the city’s community development department.
Still, the entire incident served to remind that missed or ignored fire safety violations can have real public safety consequences.
There are both national and international associations devoted to updating fire safety codes and regulations, and in addition to state standards, Keene’s fire department follows the life safety and uniform fire codes set forth by the National Fire Protection Association.
Many residents might only think of fire safety codes dealing with backyard burn piles and indoor smoke and fire alarms. But even residentially, much more goes into it — it’s just that the standards and codes to be met were mostly raised and dealt with during construction.
That happens during commercial construction, too, but for some businesses, adherence continues to be an issue.
That’s big because such inspections, or lack thereof, can delay both residential and commercial development — delays the city surely doesn’t need during the current housing crunch and at a time when it’s trying to grow its commercial/industrial base. So keeping that process easy to follow and cutting down on delays is a worthy goal.
Toward that end, adding a seasoned hand in inspection processes and the complex fire code issues that sometimes crop up is a good idea.
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