City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 26, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.D
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Wolfgang Knabe, Interim Fire Chief, Fire Department Subject: Adoption of a Resolution accepting a report on the status of all statemandated annual fire inspections in the City of Santa Monica in conjunction with SB1205 and California Health and Safety Code Section 13146.4.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a Resolution acknowledging receipt of a report on the status of state mandated annual fire inspections in the City of Santa Monica pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 13146.4
2. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Summary
With the signing of SB 1205 (Hill) on September 27, 2018 by the Governor, the California Health and Safety Code was amended by adding Section 13146.4 which requires that all fire departments perform annual inspections pursuant to Sections 13146.2 and 13146.3 and report annually to its administrating authority on its compliance. These sections mandate that annual inspections of all public and private schools, hotels, motels, lodging houses, and all apartment and condominium buildings be performed by the Fire Department. The purpose of annual fire inspections is to mitigate known hazards, reduce risk to the community and ensure reasonable compliance with the California Fire Code. The Fire Department completed annual fire inspections of these facilities for Fiscal Year 2022-2023. A resolution to accept the City’s FY 2022-2023 annual fire inspections report is included as Attachment A. 2 of 4
Discussion
SB 1205 requires that every city or county fire department or district to perform the above-described inspections and to report annually to its administering authority on the department or district’s compliance with the above-described inspection requirements. The bill also requires the administering authority to acknowledge receipt of the report in a resolution or a similar formal document. Further, the acceptance of this compliance report and the recommended Resolution fulfills the statutory requirements contained in California Health and Safety Code Sections 13146.2, 13146.3 and 13146.4, as amended by SB 1205.
The California Building Code also specifies that condominiums should be considered apartments for building code application. An apartment shall consist of three or more attached units and excludes all duplex style buildings. Last fiscal year, the Fire Department inspected 3,828 apartment/condominium buildings with three or more units.
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The following is the mandated reporting of the inspections from the Santa Monica Fire Department for the Fiscal Year 2022-2023.
Occupancy
Type
Inspections
Completed Total Number
Percentage
Completed
Schools Public 40 40 100%
Schools Private 18 18 100%
Jails SMPD PSF 1 1 100%
Multi-Family
Residential
Three Units + 3,828 3,828 100%
Total Inspections Completed 3,887
During Fiscal Year 2022-2023 the Fire Department conducted 3,887 state-mandated annual inspections under California Health and Safety Code Sections 13146.2, 13146.3 and 13146.4 and 3,055 other types of annual inspections shown in the table below.
In addition to the mandated reporting of the specific occupancies above, the following are the remaining inspections conducted by the Santa Monica Fire Department on an annual basis, reported for Fiscal Year 2022-2023.
Occupancy Type
Inspections
Completed
Total
Number
Percentage
Completed
Assemblies, Institutions,
Hospitals
309 309 100%
Highrise 80 80 100%
Underground Storage Tanks 34 34 100%
New Construction Plan Review
and Inspections
2,118 2,118 100%
Business and Mercantile*
Staffing priority was given to
completing mandated
inspections
514 4139 12%
Environmental Review
The reporting of Fire and Life Safety annual inspections is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense 4 of 4
Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines, which states that CEQA does not apply, where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the recommended action.
Prepared By: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. SB 1205 23-24 Resolution (2023) Fire Inspection