Fires prompt sprinkler debate
7/17/2006 (Source: The Press Democrat - Petaluma, CA)
Petaluma ponders whether retrofit deadline is soon enough in wake of 2 blazes in 2 weeks
By: Jose L. Sanchez Jr.
Following fires at two downtown Petaluma commercial buildings in a two-week period, some city officials and business people called Monday for a reassessment of the city's policy on fire sprinklers. The current policy calls for building owners in the heart of downtown to install sprinklers in their basements by 2011 and above ground by 2017. The city is offering to pay 10 percent of the cost, up to $10,000. However, no property owner in the sprinkler zone has moved to retrofit a building since the ordinance was approved in December, Fire Chief Chris Albertson said. The sprinkler zone is bounded by Washington, B and Kentucky streets and the Petaluma River. The sprinkler policy was prompted in part by a 2002 fire that seriously injured a firefighter and destroyed five businesses in the middle of Kentucky Street. The recent fires, an accidental blaze at Tomasini's Rex Ace Hardware & Country Store on June 23 and an arson at the Goodwill Store on Sunday, have some City Council members saying something more needs to be done to increase fire safety downtown. Councilman Mike Healy said the council should consider whether providing greater incentives for building owners to put in sprinklers may be appropriate. Pointing out that the Rex hardware site at Fourth and B streets is just outside the sprinkler zone, Councilwoman Karen Nau said the council should explore expanding the sprinkler zone's boundaries to cover other buildings downtown that are next to each other. Councilman Mike O'Brien said the city should take advantage of upcoming redevelopment projects downtown to extend water mains under the streets to cover additional buildings. But he opposes giving building owners any time extensions or greater incentives to install sprinklers, he said. "I think the downtown merchants need to get off the dime and sprinkler their buildings, " he said. Mayor David Glass said he would be willing to consider an ordinance that would shorten the deadlines to put in sprinklers and suggested that perhaps a discussion of fire prevention policy downtown should become part of the upcoming City Council campaign. Jim Balshaw, president of the Petaluma Downtown Association, said he could only comment as an individual business owner. "Given the potential financial hardship and how disruptive it would be to do some of the work, the timeline is regrettably long but appropriate," said Balshaw, who owns a catering business. tom Lingle, owner of Copper Home and Garden on Petaluma Boulevard, suggested that in order to get the work done sooner and save the building owners money, the city should pay to have the sprinkler retrofits done in phases and then collect payments from the building owners. Petaluma has had 18 major fires since 1960 in the historic downtown district. Six months ago, Albertson estimated the cost of adding sprinklers to existing historic buildings at $3 to $4 per square foot. The sprinkler ordinance covers roughly 68 property owners and more than 225 businesses downtown.
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