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An ordinance declaring the Bayou Cane Fire Department as a Certified Fire Prevention Agency has been tabled for now until language of the local law is rewritten to fall in line with state law.
Becoming a certified fire protection agency means that the Bayou Cane Fire Department can not only inspect buildings for fire code compliance but also issue citations to businesses and multi-family residences, said Chief Ken Himel, Bayou Cane Fire Protection District.
“Our bureau is already established, so this is nothing new,” said Himel. “The housekeeping part for us is just to make sure that all the language in the ordinance and the code that we are adopting is official for us to get credit for [the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana].”
The Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, or PIAL, is the organization that issues fire ratings to individual fire departments that describe the level of fire protection those departments offer their communities.
Fire ratings, which are on a scale of one to ten, one being the best, are used by insurance companies to determine homeowner’s insurance premiums.
The Bayou Cane Fire Department has a fire rating of two, said Michel Claudet, Terrebonne Parish president.
The Bayou Cane Fire Department has been inspecting buildings in the area but has not had enforcement authority for code violations, said Himel. This ordinance would give the Bayou Cane Fire Department “more teeth” when it comes to enforcement.
Currently, there is a council resolution, passed in 2000, declaring the fire department as a fire protection agency, but a parish ordinance is required by state law for it to be recognized by the state fire marshal, said Himel.
The ordinance was up for vote in December of last year, but was never voted on because the language of the ordinance did not satisfy all council members then, either, said Councilmember John Navy.
“We’re to the point to where we’ve got all of the new language in,” said Himel. “…And I really don’t see us, the fire department, coming up with anymore changes.” Chief Himel said he is passing the ordinance onto lawyers to make sure that “all of the ‘T’s’ are crossed and all the ‘I’s’ are dotted” and will be reintroducing the ordinance to the council soon.
There were two things that need to be changed, said Himel. One is a penalty provision that spells out consequences for non-compliance. The other is a paragraph that states that a fire code inspector or his “designee” may perform inspections and issue citations “in accordance with state law.”
These concerns, among many others, were raised at the council meeting by Alex Ostheimer, Vice-Chairman of the Houma-Terrebonne Regional Planning Commission. Ostheimer, who once received a citation from the Bayou Cane Fire Department for noncompliance, said that this ordinance will add to the bureaucracy of fire inspections and eventually cost taxpayers more money.
The National Fire Protection Association, which publishes the national fire codes, requires fire protection agencies to inspect commercial buildings once a year.
“…You get your driver’s license for four years, you get your car inspected for two years, and yet they want to go around and inspect every commercial building that’s not absolutely brand new every year,” said Ostheimer. “That is a huge job. Somebody’s got to pay for all that. Not counting whatever the building owner has to spend what they find that they think he should fix. To me, that bureaucracy is just not justified.”
Himel acknowledged that there will be a cost increase due to yearly inspections but that “it will save lives.” Due to the financial problems that the fire department faced three years ago, the department has not had a code inspector, but has since hired one.
Himel said that older buildings that are not significantly modified must meet the requirements of the edition of the code from when it was built.
Himel said the Bayou Cane Fire Department is in the middle of being re-rated right now, so passing the ordinance soon is urgently needed. If not, the fire department may lose up to 10 points towards their fire rating, effectively lowering the fire district’s fire rating and raising home and business owners’ insurance premiums.
Himel said fire protection agencies are re-rated every year and that the department has about six months to be certified by ordinance for PIAL to count it towards their fire rating.
According to parish law, any proposed ordinance must be held for two weeks after introduction to the council in order to allow the public an opportunity to speak at a public hearing on the matter.
Bayou Cane volunteer firefighters load fire hoses onto a fire engine. An ordinance is up for vote for the third time granting the Bayou Cane Fire Department fire code enforcement power.
