Clallam County Fire District 3 and the City of Sequim agreed to move forward together to fund a joint fire code technician.
City councilors unanimously agreed to a new interlocal agreement Monday while fire commissioners agreed in February to pursue a person for the 26-hour-per-week position.
The Sequim area has gone without routine inspections from the fire district since May 2020 following the retirement of inspector Steve Jackson.
One of the more critical elements of the technician’s duties, according to District 3 Fire Chief Ben Andrews, is developing and implementing a fire safety inspection program of critical structures and occupancies such as schools, churches, restaurants, multi-family apartments, big box stores and others.
While some occupancies require state inspections, many departments don’t have capacity to send someone to Sequim, so it’s done by the fire district, District 3 Assistant Fire Chief Dan Orr said.
“It would take three time full time employees to do every business once a year,” Andrews said.
With a rising call load for emergency services, Andrews said fire commissioners made the decision not to fund the position after fully funding it for years.
“The hard thing about those types of programs is that we can’t prove a negative,” Andrews said in an August interview. “We can’t prove how many fires it’s prevented.”
He said the technician likely helps prevent fires, makes conditions safer for firefighters and residents, and helps lower some local homeowners’ insurance rates.
Jackson focused on large assembly areas and restaurants — particularly on fire suppression — and he also provided additional input on fire plans and new buildings’ fire code enforcement, Andrews said.
While the fire department is not the enforcement agency of its inspections, Andrews said they always received voluntary compliance and that city staff have been responsive.
Sequim city councilor Keith Larkin, who asked for more time to review the position and state guidelines on March 8, said on March 22 that the contract is consistent with many other cities in the state.
Cost
Fire district’s commissioners voted not to fund the position last March and end a 1996 interlocal agreement with the city and Clallam County because of budget constraints and a rising call load, Andrews said.
On March 22, city councilors agreed to a tentative contract up to $15,000 towards the technician’s contract.
Andrews said they approached Clallam County for participating in the position, but they were unable to this year because of budget constraints. He said he hopes the county will participate in 2022.
In August, George Bailey, Clallam County’s plans examiner/fire marshal/code compliance officer III, confirmed that their biggest challenge is funding, saying via email, “With this limited staff it is a challenge to do any additional fire and life safety inspections on existing structures.”
He added, “All I can say is we are doing the best we can with the extremely limited resources available.”
Barry Berezowsky, Sequim director of community development, said depending on how recruiting goes, the city council may need a budget amendment on the contract if it’s higher than budgeted.
At the March 8 city council meeting, Andrews said, the position will be civilian and overseen by Orr.
“It may take some time to bring someone on board,” Andrews said.
“We don’t have an idea of the market, but we want to hire the right person, not the cheapest person. If we don’t get any acceptable candidates we may need to (reassess the position/recruitment).”
Orr said requests for applicants will go out in mid-April with a tentative hiring in July.
Andrews said the district has the ability in its system to add fees to inspections while Berezowsky said fire plan checks, building fire inspections and alarm testing is $195 for the first three hours and hourly after that.
“(But) the city does not have a fee nor do we recommend one for inspections of critical facilities that will benefit from fire safety inspections,” Berezowsky said.
