Agenda Item
City Council
Item #: 3.31. 3/8/2022 File #: 22-0130
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THRU: Thomas R. Hatch, Interim City Manager
FROM: Sean deMetropolis, Fire Chief
1. SUBJECT
Status report regarding calendar year 2021 fire inspections of educational and selected residential occupancies in accordance with California Health and Safety Code Section 13146.4. Resolution No. 11379.
2. SUMMARY
The Orange City Fire Department performed 909 required annual inspections in calendar year 2021.
Per State law, the Orange City Fire Department is required to report inspection activity to the City Council.
3. RECOMMENDED ACTION
Adopt Resolution No. 11379. A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Orange acknowledging receipt of a report made by the Orange City Fire Department regarding performance of certain required annual inspections.
4. FISCAL IMPACT
None.
5. STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Goal 1: Provide for a safe community
e: Develop and implement effective community outreach services and programs to promote public safety.
6. DISCUSSION AND BACKGROUND
Background:
California Health and Safety Code Section 13146 (Code) requires the Orange City Fire Department (Department) to inspect all buildings used as public and private schools, hotels, motels, lodging houses, and apartment houses at least annually, “sofar as practicable”.Inspections are performed to ensure the safety of a building’soccupants, and look at a building’sconstruction, its fire protection systems, and its operational features that provide safety from fire, smoke, and general panic during emergencies.
Effective January 1, 2019, Code Section 13146.4 requires all fire departments in the state to adopt direct, annual reporting of the number of State-mandated school and residential inspections they City of Orange Printed on 3/3/2022Page 1 of 2
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Item #: 3.31. 3/8/2022 File #: 22-0130
direct, annual reporting of the number of State-mandated school and residential inspections they performed in the previous calendar year. This creates a clear communication channel between fire departments and their legislative bodies throughout California.
Discussion:
For the 2021 calendar year, the Department phoned, emailed, or visited all management-occupied sites to schedule inspections. Smaller apartment sites that do not have management onsite were automatically inspected. Most buildings’exteriors are generally accessible and the mandate does not require the inspection of the interior of units.
The Orange City Fire Department performed 909 of the 1,057 required annual inspections. Of the remaining 148 sites, one site was temporarily closed for the year. The remaining occupancies were not completed due to COVID-19 limitations. The Department completed an additional 2,431 life safety inspections not required to be included by Code Section 13146.4 in this report. Those inspections include structures of mid- and high-rise buildings, assembly use, manufacturing, hazardous materials, institutions, mercantile, and storage.
The Department generated either a completion or outstanding violations report, and mailed or emailed it to each site. The 148 sites (14%) that were not inspected are tracked to ensure completion as early as possible in the next calendar year and any that were missed remain scheduled for inspection in 2022. In most cases, inspections completed early in the year for the previous year are inspected twice, as their designated annual inspection remains in place for the current year. At this time, there are no penalties associated with failure to complete all inspections in each calendar year.
7. ATTACHMENTS
· Resolution No. 11379
· Health and Safety Code Section 13146.2, 13146.3, 13146.4 City of Orange Printed on 3/3/2022Page 2 of 2
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