By Shannon Sessions, Sharon Salyer and Scott North
William Prince, 33, is a former Shoreline resident who now lives at Alderwood Assisted Living because of a brain injury.
How much longer he lives there depends on the success of the state Department of Social and Health Services in closing the Lynnwood facility over a dispute about fire sprinklers.
Prince said he doesn’t understand why DSHS is trying to evict people just because the facility doesn’t have sprinklers.
“If I had to get out, I could and many of the people who they say can’t do it, can,” Prince said, “and if they can’t they’re on the first floor.”
Prince is in the process of finding a new home anyway he said because he wanted to be around more people his own age. But he said he really feels for the older people at the facility who’s lives are being disturbed.
“It’s stupid that the older people’s lives have to be disrupted and I’m for those people who have to deal with this,” Prince said. “No matter how bad it is, I don’t want them to have to move.
The owners Alderwood Assisted Living went to court July 14, but failed to persuade a judge to keep their doors open.
Nevertheless, for now, the home’s 52 residents who don’t want to move won’t have to, said Bob McClintock, a DSHS regional administrator, adding that the judge is expected to rule on the case by July 24 after the two sides provide more information.
Judge Richard Hicks “ruled that everything is status quo for the next 10 days. Nobody has to move,” said Joe Kilkelly, the boarding home’s majority owner.
The legal battle was triggered by state action July 11 to suspend the boarding home’s license. State officials told residents they should begin plans to move and sent a team of employees to the facility to help plan alternative care.
Alderwood Assisted Living asked a Thurston County judge July 14 for a 10-day stay of the state action, but it was not granted. In its formal notice of license suspension, DSHS documents allege that failure to comply with safety issues it placed on the home put the lives of residents at risk.
The safety issues included not only fire sprinklers, but also the ability of residents, some of whom use walkers, canes or wheelchairs, to quickly evacuate the building, state documents say.
Just how many residents fall into that category is one of the disputes.
The state says that 46 residents either have trouble or can’t walk on their own, slowing their ability to leave the building.
“We disagreed with their findings,” Alderwood co-owner Tom Tennant said. “They don’t run our business.”
The 25,000 square-foot wood frame home has operated for five years, and has automatic fire doors and other protections to slow a fire, Tennant said.
July 14’s court battle is just the first shot in a coming legal showdown, Kilkelly said adding, the company is exploring state and federal lawsuits against DSHS and the city of Lynnwood.
City officials played a role in raising false concerns about the boarding home’s fire safety, and DSHS overstepped its authority in ordering the facility residents to leave, Kilkelly said.
“I’m here to tell you that I have the resources to take them on, and I’m going to,” he said.
Lynnwood Fire Marshal John Conderman said he, the fire chief and city officials are reviewing the case to try to determine “if, in fact, there is a hazard” at the home at 18700 44th Ave. W.
Older boarding homes can operate without sprinklers if sufficient numbers of their residents are capable of evacuating on their own.
Sprinklers increase the safety of people who live in boarding homes by instantly attacking flames, Glenn said. Time is precious in boarding home fires because many residents are older and likely will take longer to reach safety, he said.
The state has been pressing for sprinklers in boarding homes since shortly after the April 1998 blaze that gutted Arlington Manor, killing eight residents. That was one-fourth of the residents. The people who lived there were elderly or Alzheimer’s patients or had developmental disabilities and mental disorders.
After that fire, the state surveyed boarding homes and found that 122 were not equipped with fire-suppression sprinklers. Lawmakers set aside $2.5 million for grants to help owners cover the cost of installing sprinklers.
When the program ended in June, virtually all of the money had been spent on sprinkler installations at more than 40 boarding homes around the state, including three homes in Snohomish County, Glenn said.
Alderwood did not seek state funding for sprinklers, Kilkelly said. The company weighed the costs and the benefits and determined the work was too expensive and too disruptive, he said. State grants would have only covered about one-tenth of the cost, he added.
Moreover, the state never made it appear that installing sprinklers was an urgent need, Kilkelly said. DSHS gave the boarding home clean surveys five times in recent years, and the state fire marshal’s office visited as recently at May without raising concerns about evacuation plans, he said.
“Why now? Why all of a sudden, now?” Kilkelly asked.
“If the residents weren’t at risk, we wouldn’t be taking this action,” McClintock responded.
The assistant state fire marshal outlined fire safety measures the home would have to take if it cared for people who have difficulty walking on their own in a January 2002 letter.
Late last month, DSHS officials told the home it must take a number of safety steps, including discharging within 30 days all but two of its patients who had problems walking without assistance. The two patients were required to be on the building’s first floor.
Kilkelly said the facility is safe.
“We’ve never had a fire here,” he said. “We monitor our rooms very closely. We don’t allow any smoking in our rooms.”
Shannon Sessions is editor of the Lynnwood/MountlakeTerrace Enterpise. Sharon Salyer and Scott North are reporters for The Herald in Everett.
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