The fire that started in a second-floor residence, then tore through the Bluffs Apartments in south Everett on New Year’s Eve injured a dozen people, displaced more than 100 and left one man dead of smoke inhalation.
That it didn’t kill or injure more people may have been more a matter of luck than prevention. The building, built in 1969 before the adoption of more stringent fire regulations, didn’t have a sprinkler system. Nor did it have a central alarm system that likely would have detected abnormal heat in the unit where the fire started or would have allowed a neighbor, having smelled smoke, to pull an alarm and alert other residents and the fire department sooner.
The sprinkler system wasn’t mandatory for the grandfathered complex; the alarm system was.
Less than a month after the fire, the owners of the Casino Road apartment complex were ordered by the city to install a central fire alarm system throughout the complex tied to heat detectors in each residence, a system separate from the individual smoke alarms that also are required in each apartment unit. Both are necessary; the heat detectors are less prone to false alarms than smoke detectors, but the smoke detectors are crucial in providing early warning to those in an apartment.
In a city with many other apartment buildings of an age similar to the Bluffs, Everett officials followed that order with a survey of other apartment buildings and property records. As reported Friday by Herald Writer Rikki King, of 26 buildings reviewed by Everett’s fire marshal’s office, 19 were found to be lacking the fire alarm systems required by the city’s fire code. Individual buildings with 16 or more units or those over three stories in height are required to have central alarm systems.
Building owners now are being ordered to install the alarm systems; they’ll have 90 days after notification to get the required permits, then six months to complete the work.
Another 30 apartment buildings in the city also are being checked to see if they require alarm systems.
It’s unfortunate that it took a tragedy to prompt a review of where alarm systems were required but not installed, but Everett officials have responded quickly and have stepped up inspections at larger apartment buildings to an annual schedule rather than every other year.
Officials in Everett and in other cities should take the opportunity to discuss changes to their fire codes that could broaden the protections offered by alarm and sprinkler systems. A number of apartment complexes that are only two stories high or that have less than 16 units in a building aren’t currently required to have the alarms system but could be reasonable candidates for them. Reviews of current codes should occur at the local and state level.
Building owners, too, have a duty to their tenants to make sure they are in compliance with all codes, fire and otherwise.
And there’s responsibility here for those living in apartments and single-family homes, whether rented or owned. Building owners are required to provide smoke alarms in apartments and rental units, but it’s the obligation of residents to maintain the smoke alarms to make sure they are in working order and haven’t been disabled. This is as good a time as any to remind everyone to change the batteries in their alarms; no need to wait for daylight saving time to begin. (March 13, by the way.)
It’s also up to you to take fire alarms seriously and to evacuate your home, business, school or any other building when an alarm sounds until the all-clear is given.
Alarms won’t stop a fire, but they do save lives.
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