CSS 2021-08-02 Item 1C - Discussion - Fire Marshal's Office Alternatives

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INFORMATIONAL MEMO Page 5 category with certified fire investigators. Some departments will use company officers on the responding fire engines to investigate minor fires and simply determine origin and cause. Criminal fires are handed off to local law enforcement. Fire Development Review Services: These services can be billed under the city approved fee schedule with the goal of being cost neutral. High Level = On -staff Fire Protection Engineer (FPE), all plans reviewed by certified and experienced staff. Short turnaround times. Minimum Level = FMO staff reviews plans and offers input to building officials. Turnaround times that are longer based on staffing. Most FMOs in our area focus on providing a high level of service in this area. Certified and experienced staff will be integrated into the permitting process to streamline the process for the client. One relevant measure of service level in this area is "turnaround time" which is the time needed to process a set of plans from the intake day to the approved plans. This is generally measured in weeks, and most developers would consider a 4 -week turnaround time to be acceptable. Some plans require a FPE to review and stamp the plans prior to approval. This can inject considerable time into the turnaround time and delay a project. The VRFA has one of their certified fire plan reviewers pursuing their FPE certification to keep this process in-house (thus shortening turnaround time). Fire Code Enforcement Services: These services can be billed under the city approved fee schedule with the goal of being cost neutral. High Level = Using certified fire inspectors to conduct inspections on all occupancies under the most frequent Washington State Ratings Bureau (WSRB) criteria. NOTE: The WSRB rates fire services based on established criteria for insurance companies to use in determining fire insurance premiums. Minimum Level = No inspections are performed or performed by non -certified staff. This is an area with a lot of variability and scalability. Most inspection programs focus on the medium and high hazard occupancies and their related operations that require an Operational Permit to conduct. A certified fire inspector can conduct an inspection of the occupancy on a frequency determined by the desired level of service. One of the functions of the WSRB is to evaluate FMO inspection programs. The highest rating is given to programs that inspect Ultra- high hazard occupancies quarterly, and all other occupancies at least annually. Most systems in Zone 3 will inspect high hazards annually to every 18 months, and medium hazard occupancies from annually to every three years. Some systems will also inspect low hazard occupancies from annually to every three years, or not at all. Some systems use a Company Inspection program that sends non -certified, but trained crews to conduct inspections of low hazard occupancies as time allows during their normal shifts. These inspections are rarely pre -scheduled and sometimes interrupted by emergency calls. While the https://tukwilawa.sharepoint.com/sites/mayorsoffice/cc/Council Agenda Items/Fire/FMO Workload Memo 7-21-21.docx 27