Fire, building departments still bicker whether factory building should have been open for business

ELYRIA — The ongoing city investigation into the communication breakdown between the Fire Department and Building Department prior to the July fire at the former General Industries complex has reached a stalemate.

With department heads from both offices refusing to budge from previously stated opinions, the city is preparing to hire an outside consultant to look independently at the issue.

“Basically, the chief building official believes the owner took the appropriate steps to occupy the building and fire officials believe the building was uninhabitable,” said Mayor Bill Grace. “So, internally we believe it’s our best next course of action to hire an independent consultant that can give us an undisputable resolution.”

Almost two years before fire ripped through the massive compound, Fire Department inspector, Kurt G. Blair, called the building’s lack of properly operating fire alarms and sprinkler systems an “urgent matter” and offered to help the Building Department obtain a court order to vacate the building.

However, after only a couple of months the city’s chief building inspector, Phillip Lahetta, told the owner, John Peshek, that he was “relinquishing the Unsafe Building status for the portion of the building served by the Olive Street fire main” after city inspectors verified that the fire protection system had been repaired and was in service for that part of the building.

Still, when a small fire at the back of the building grew to historic proportions on July 3, it was Interim Fire Chief Joe Pronesti that said a fully operable sprinkler system could have helped firefighting efforts.

Grace said he does not know how much such a study will cost. Although, its scope will include addressing policies and procedures within the Building Department moving forward, it will be less involved then the long-requested audit of the Fire Department, Grace said.

“This will give us a good opportunity to look at the general operating procedures within the Building Department and ensure that a breakdown of communication doesn’t happen again,” Grace said.

The exchange between the Fire Department and Building Department was documented in letters, memos and reports kept on file by both departments. However, the documents do not make clear what happened after Nov. 9, 2006, when a letter from a fire protection and consultant firm was copied into the Building Department files.

The file shows no more activity until the afternoon of the infamous blaze when Gerald Klein, assistant city building official, wrote a memo under the title “special inspection” while the fire raged on.

Klein, in his report, wrote that Assistant Fire Chief Bob Dempsey thought the Building Department had issued orders preventing occupancy, “but the orders were either rescinded or not pursued.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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