Salina Fire Department inspection and prevention activities are credited with greatly reducing the instances of large-loss commercial structure fires in recent years.
That's what Fire Chief Kevin Royse told Salina City Commissioners in an administrative brief that was included in this week's commission meeting packet.
"Salina is not any different than other communities except, that in the past 10-12 years our fire inspection and prevention activities have driven down large loss (greater than $50,000) commercial structure fires to exeptional lows," Royse wrote.
He noted that the last large-loss commercial structure fire to which the department responded was the fire at Huddle House/Flying J Travel Center, 2250 North Ohio Street, on April 17, 2015.
Prior to that was the fire downtown at Anderson Leather Shop, 118 North Santa Fe Avenue, on May 21, 2008, Royse wrote.
"These are exceptional achievements for any community to have only 2 major commercial structure fires in the past 12 years. It has not been done without a major emphasis on our prevention and inspection efforts which has paid off significantly," he wrote in the brief.
Royse explained that commercial building fires "can bring a multitude of concerns and problems that residential fires do not have. First and foremost is the safety of the firefighters involved with the actual fire operations. Most commercial buildings are larger than an average residence and depending upon the type of occupancy have a higher fire load and sometimes hazards that are not present in a residence. The risk of injury or death to firefighters is much higher during an actual commercial building fire."
Afterward, commercial fires can have lasting effect on the community, he noted.
"First is the displacement of the employees. Employees may not be willing or able to wait for the business to reopen and resume operations especially if the damage is extensive or complete. Next the owners may not wish to reopen or rebuild depending upon various factors such as insurance, loss of business and the time it takes to reopen. The longer the downtime, the greater the financial, personal and community loss especially if it is a larger employer for the community. Lastly there is the lost revenue to the city in the form of sales taxes while the building is closed. Some businesses do not ever reopen," Royse wrote.
The chief also informed commissioners of two programs the department has recently implemented to "ensure and improve the safety of the citizens of Salina."
He explained that in October 2019, the department began using Compliance Engine for its testing and system inspection program for commercial properties that are required to have fire protection systems. Additionally, the department "requested a city ordinance change requiring any contractor doing inspection and testing of fire protection systems to be licensed by the city to perform inspections and to use Compliance Engine's program."
Royse noted that in only six months, using Compliance Engine has resulted in the following.
Identified 18 contractors who were not licensed to do the required work in Salina.
The 18 identified contractors have paid a total of $4,230 to the city to become properly licensed to do inspections and tests on commercial fire alarms per city ordinance.
The department has seen a 36-percent decrease year-to-date of false alarm calls due to fire protection system maintenance issues. By April 2019, there were 89 false alarm calls, while during the same period in 2020, there have been only 56 such calls. Royse attributed that decline to "systems being regularly and properly tested and maintained per city ordinance by qualified contractors."
Royse said the second program began on Jan. 1, 2020, when the Salina Fire Department began administering internally commercial fire alarm registration. Prior to Jan. 1, the Salina Fire Department, along with the Salina Police Department, had used a private company since 2016 to register and bill commercial businesses that were required by code to have fire alarm systems. Royse explained that the department found that the company's "record keeping and administration of these false fire alarms to be substandard and made the move to do all registration and false alarm billing in house by our Fire Prevention Division."
He noted that while the department had so far collected approximately the same amount of registration fees thus far in 2020, it also has discovered 12 commercial properties that were never registered by the previous company. Royse explained that by having the operation in-house, the department "can now cross reference all fire false alarms and make sure they are properly evaluated and billed according to the ordinance in place."
Royse also made commissioners aware of Fire Prevention Division personnel. Members of the division include the following.
Fire Marshal Troy Long
Fire Inspector Joe Kvacik
Fire Inspector Jeff Daily
Fire Inspector Roger Newell
Fire K9 Hoke