My second day with the CFD taught me a lesson that is very important to the fire service – that unexpected events happen, and plans change. Due to an unfortunate incident yesterday, I rode with a fire marshal instead of attending a live burn (training fire). The fire marshal, Michael Tatum, is a veteran of the fire service, and conducts inspections of commercial buildings in the Cary town limits. Some of the types of buildings that he inspects are apartments, pools, businesses, and even the WakeMed hospital in Cary. He checks for violations such as out-of-date fire extinguishers, broken emergency lights, and blocked exits. Depending on the violation, he may write the offender a fine. Other members of the fire department will visit about 30 days later to ensure that the violations have been fixed. The first inspection that we conducted was at a pool. There was nobody there, so we left a notice on the front gate. After the first attempted inspection, Mr. Tatum drove me around his district to show me all of the land he is responsible for. We also drove by the remnants of a high-profile house fire, that destroyed a historic 110 year old farm house, near the border of Wake and Chatham counties.
After visiting the scene of the fire, we went to inspect more buildings. First on the list was a bank. We found no major violations in the bank, although they were storing decorations too close to their breaker box, which can be a fire hazard. After the bank, we inspected a small shop, where we found an expired fire extinguisher as well as multiple broken emergency lights, in addition to objects stored near the breaker box. The shop owner agreed to fix the violations without incident. Our final inspection was at a restaurant, near the shop and the bank. Inside the restaurant, we found that there had been multiple locks attached to the exits, which was a violation of the fire code. The emergency lights in the restaurant also did not function. Similar to the owner before, the manager at the restaurant agreed to rectify the violations without further incident. Finally, we went to a hardware store to check on their sprinkler system, which had been broken and set off a few days earlier. Mr. Tatum determined that the sprinkler system had been fixed, after examining the riser room.
After riding with the fire marshal for a while, I got to experience more of the code enforcement side of the fire department. I spent some time with Mr. Boone, who is the plans examiner for the CFD. He is responsible for reviewing all construction plans for the town, and ensuring that they will meet fire code. He described his job to me as we drove back from lunch, and was kind enough to take me on a tour of the Cary Public Works Operations Center, a hub for all sorts of activities that keep the town running. The large Operations Center is tucked away on James Jackson road, where many people won’t even notice it. Once we returned back to the Fire Administration Building, the incredibly busy Mr. Boone introduced me to his computer software that he uses to review plans, and showed me his process with some plans that he had to review. He detailed certain types of violations, how they impact construction, and how he detects them using his software. Today, I was able to learn all about the fire code and inspection processes, as well as dealing with unexpected events within the fire service.