On occasion, accidents create public debate and discussion. The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel’s fire in October did just that, causing some to look more closely at Phoenix fire codes, policies and how the public is kept safe.
Phoenix fire safety comes down to the Phoenix Fire Department, the city of Phoenix fire codes and policies, and the fire inspectors that ensure those regulations are met.
Each type of building and business must adhere to specific fire codes and policies created by the Fire Department.
“What we do is adopt the International Fire Code and then we make amendments and these amendments only deal with Phoenix,” Phoenix Fire Department fire inspector Brian Scholl said. “We change rules to fit us better.”
The International Fire Codes are produced every three years and Phoenix is currently using the 2012 installment.
“It’s expensive for a city to go through that process, so if the codes haven’t changed a whole lot, we’ll just stay with the code we are currently using,” Scholl said. “If we start having fires with something different, we can always adopt a policy and a regulation that can address that.”
Any new amendment must gain approval with both the Fire Safety Advisory Board and the City Council.
Fire safety is broken into two categories in Phoenix: commercial and residential.
“The fire code deals with 90 percent commercial, putting in sprinklers and fire-alarm systems,” Scholl said. “We go into residential when we start talking about a group home or a daycare at your home — now you’re looking at residential turning to commercial.”
Single-dwelling-home fire safety includes alerting people to the dangers in their homes.
“Fire prevention for residential is about awareness. We are going to try and educate people,” Scholl said. “Most residential fires start by cooking or candles.”
It’s a different message for commercial buildings.
“It’s about the fire drills and evacuations because the safety stuff is already installed and sprinklers are designed to suppress the fires to give more time to get out,” Scholl said. “The key is to get out of the building.”
Sprinkler heads put out 60 gallons of water per minute. They are not designed to fully extinguish a fire but to give people time to get out, according to Scholl.
As for what properties can do to better prepare themselves, Scholl has three suggestions.
“First, they need to make sure they keep up with their services of all their fire-safety systems: sprinkler systems, fire alarms, fire extinguishers,” Scholl said. “Second, make sure all your exit signs and your emergency lighting all work correctly. Lastly, make sure your exits are not blocked.”
The Phoenix Public Market Cafe has an open-fire rotisserie oven that causes their codes to be stricter.
“We have to stay on schedule with our cleaning, we have to get the hoods cleaned over the rotisserie every six weeks. Then they (fire inspectors) come in and check that every six months,” Phoenix Public Market Cafe general manager Drew Decker said.
The communication between the city and Decker is quite good. The city sends Decker mail alerts of any changes or new codes that affect him.
There are also buildings that fall under both commercial and residential.
At Skyline Lofts, for instance, the first-floor rentals are commercial and the apartments and lofts are residential, community director Tyler Meinders said.
One fire system services the entire building even though the spaces are categorized differently.
“Since we don’t have hallway fire extinguishers, every apartment has a fire extinguisher so once a year we do an annual fire-extinguisher inspection,” Meinders said.
A company is hired to recharge and ensure every extinguisher is working properly. Along with planned fire-extinguisher inspections, the city and Meinders plan inspections of other fire-safety systems.
“I know they are going to show up every three months to check my oxygen line in my stairwells for firefighters. They also check the radio lines in the stairwell,” Meinders said.
A system of speakers and microphones allows emergency responders on different floors to communicate with one another.
Skyline Lofts also has a speaker system in every unit.
“When the fire alarm’s tripped there is a little speaker that goes off everywhere. They are in every single apartment. A little voice comes over and says ‘There’s a fire. Please exit the premises,’” Meinders said.
Contact the reporter at rjmaki@asu.edu
