Speeding to a fire at a jewelry store, Colorado Springs firefighters didn’t know the jeweler used a deadly chemical – one that could kill them and everyone in the building.    “We had no idea he had cyanide in there” for rendering gold, said Fire Marshal Brett Lacey. 

 

   “If the Fire Department had known, it would be entered in the (dispatch) system and firefighters would have gone in wearing protective suits.”    But firefighters didn’t know, because the shop hadn’t been inspected for fire dangers.

 

    That was nearly a decade ago, and firefighters still stumble onto hazards fire officials think put the public at risk every day at thousands of businesses and public facilities, most of which haven’t been inspected in years.

 

    The problem is twofold – lack of inspectors and a dearth of information, Fire Chief Manny Navarro said. Inspection for fire-code compliance is critical, because most fires other than kitchen and arson fires stem from firecode violations, Lacey said.    Moreover, Navarro said, even fires not caused by a violation can be fueled by one.    Lacey noted that while the number of fires in the city is declining, losses are up.

 

    “Fires are becoming more severe and serious,” he said. Unless we do something to drastically change how we’re doing business, I feel we’re going to see increased losses.”    One solution is a business license, fees from which would pay for more inspectors.

 

    At issue is the department’s inability to inspect businesses and other facilities for compliance with fire codes years after they’re built. Enforcement of the 16-ring-binder International Fire Code entails inspecting flammability of materials, heat sources, storage of chemicals and a host of other hazards.

 

    New-construction inspections aren’t a problem. Four fire inspectors and four fire engineers review construction plans and inspect buildings before opening, and inspectors have been added to accommodate an 8.4 percent increase in workload since 2000.

 

    But many buildings that complied with fire codes when built have since been altered or used for different purposes, and they no longer comply.

 

    Attic walls in apartment buildings have holes to accommodate maintenance work or installation of technology. The holes let flames race through a building where otherwise a fire might be contained.

 

    That’s why inspectors need to periodically evaluate fire risk, but they’re shorthanded. Only three do routine inspections and respond to sites identified as risky by the public or engine companies. That’s one fewer than in 2002.

 

    Referral inspections, identified by citizens or fire companies, took a 69-percent leap, to 906 from 535, from 2006 to 2007, which resulted in inspectors handling a third fewer routine inspections last year.    “Instead of doing routine inspections, we’re going helterskelter on referrals,” Navarro said.

 

    Similarly, the department’s three hazardous materials storage inspectors can’t keep pace. “We have 650 locations we inspect for hazmat and estimate 1,400 to 1,600 occupancies (buildings) should have hazmat permits,” Lacey said.    Another problem: Building uses change without the Fire Department being told, which allows hazards to go undetected.

 

    About five years ago, a generator repair shop opened in a strip mall at Academy Boulevard and Palmer Park. Until firefighters arrived to put out a fire, they had no idea the retail space was full of small engines, oil and gasoline, a truck, and even a fiberglass boat. Fiberglass is toxic when burned.

 

    “There was tons of stuff there. It almost killed several firefighters,” when the roof collapsed, he said. Had the fire struck at night, he added, it might have swept a crowded bar next door.

 

    In another case, firefighters were asked by a church if room dividers were safe. They were stunned to learn the church participated in a program in which 21 churches take turns housing homeless families a week at a time.

 

    “At 1 or 2 in the morning, we’re not going to expect people living in there,” Navarro said. “We could have had multiple fatalities there and not known it.”    That visit, 18 months ago, triggered inspections of the churches that found numerous fire violations.    The Interfaith Hospitality Network, which oversees the program, was thankful.

 

    “We were able to make sure that all the congregations had the appropriate maps for exiting, emergency lighting, each room had two exits,” co-executive director Tom Agnew said.    Deputy Fire Marshal Kris Cooper recalled a pawnshop inspection that revealed a basement beneath it.

 

    “We found wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling merchandise, a huge fire hazard,” he said. “We’re always finding stuff that’s a surprise, and we come back shaking our heads and wondering how big this problem is.”

 

    Lacey said the department has patched together a database from various sources, but its list of 6,000 businesses is a third the number fire officials suspect operate in the city. Fire officials also consulted sales tax licenses but think their list remains incomplete.    He said if the estimate is accurate, “There’s no way we have the staffing and resources to do those businesses.”

 

    With one inspector able to handle up to 500 businesses a year, plus follow-ups, it would take 36 years to handle them at current staffing levels.

 

    Lacey and Cooper said Springs bars aren’t immune to problems that gave rise to The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I. There, 100 people died after pyrotechnics ignited flammable soundproofing material on Feb. 20, 2003. No exits were illegally locked, but people died as they mobbed the main entrance.

 

    “Insulation and fireworks were the only major violations,” Lacey said. “This is no different than many bars we have in Colorado Springs. We’ve done bar inspections in town where we had three pages (of violations) where 75 percent were major violations. Some entailed blocked exits.    “The difference between there and us is, it just hasn’t happened yet,” he said.    Lacey said most repeat offenders are bars and nightclubs, with blocked exits, electrical hazards or “gross overcrowding.”    He said several times bar owners have reached for their checkbook to pay a fine rather than correct the problem.

 

    But that’s unusual. Most comply within the 30-day correction period or the additional two-week grace period rather than face a $500 fine and/or 90 days in jail.

 

    Only 13 Colorado Springs businesses were issued court summonses for fire code violations from 2005 through 2007, and only one was punished, records show.

 

    The Sports Page, 965 Summer Games Drive, was fined $1,000 in August 2005 after the owner failed to correct problems identified by fire inspectors four months earlier.

 

    While most businesses cooperate, some dread a visit, because an inspection can cost them money. A west-side bar closed after inspectors required a sprinkler system.

 

    That’s extreme, though. Fire inspectors mostly want compliance. “I want to end up working with them with the attitude they want to do the right thing,” fire code inspector Gordon Westrum said during inspection stops recently.    Among Westrum’s targets are “high piles,” merchandise that must be at least 18 inches below overhead sprinklers.

 

    New regulations were adopted across the country after fire losses soared to $100 million for fires where goods curtailed sprinklers’ effectiveness.

 

    At Target, 1630 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd., Westrum is happy to find stockroom walls bear signs warning, “No Stacking Above This Line by Order of the CSFD.”

 

    After a 45-minute visit, Westrum declares Target in compliance, praising its wide, uncluttered aisles. “This is beautiful,” he said, unlike many grocery stores where promotional displays impede exits.

 

    Generally, though, Westrum said national companies rarely violate codes, “because insurance companies sometimes are more restrictive than we are.”

 

    At Bekins, a moving and storage company at 3616 N. Stone Ave., Westrum finds corporate requirements for checking alarm and sprinkler systems more restrictive than local ordinances, in part because more than 1,400 7-foottall vaults are stored one on top of another 32 feet high. Any fire could prove devastating.

 

    Locked exits are among the city’s biggest problems, inspectors say. Of the 13 businesses issued court summonses since 2005, six were locked exit violations.

 

    Codes require doors be equipped to open with one motion, such as a panic bar, but some businesses use deadbolts, Westrum said.    “Our philosophy is, we want people out,” he said. “If people can’t get out, then the deaths pile up.”

 

    Last fall during 2008 budget talks, Councilman Scott Hente proposed adding 14 fire inspectors at a cost of $1.3 million. The idea died; no money.

 

    “The most successful firefighting campaign is the fire you never have to fight,” Hente said. “If you can prevent a fire, that’s an effective firefighting force.”

 

    While a general business license might not be the panacea, the Fire Department wants the City Council to adopt one with fees to fund additional inspectors.

 

    “We need to have a business license to at least let us know who’s doing what, where,” Lacey said, noting business licenses as a trigger for fire inspections are common in cities across the nation.    Hente isn’t sure. “Businessmen tell me they already pay taxes,” he said. “Why should they pay an additional tax to do this?”    The Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce could not be reached for comment.

 

    Said Lacey, “I think we’ve been as lean and mean as we can with our limited personnel. But we fear we’re losing control of managing our fire risk.”

 

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or zubeck@gazette.com 

Colorado Springs Fire Department Fire Code Inspector Gordon Westrum looks up to examine vents in the ceiling of a storage facility on North Stone Avenue during an inspection of the building Feb. 28, 2008. (MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE) Photo by

MARK REIS