By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Fire Chief Tom Sanderson would like his firefighters spending less time responding to false alarms at BGSU and more time making fire inspections in the city.
During Monday evening’s strategic planning meeting, Sanderson reported on two long-range goals for his department.
First, he would like the university to somehow assist in the response to fire calls on campus, which account for 20 percent of the fire calls in Bowling Green. Of the more than 3,300 fire calls last year, 686 were to BGSU – and one third of those were false alarms to residence halls.
Fire Chief Tom Sanderson talks at city strategic planning meeting Monday.
“We’re committing resources there so often,” Sanderson said.
The chief suggested that BGSU could help lessen the load either by providing a direct subsidy or possibly by providing first responders who could arrive at the source of the calls to ascertain their validity.
Second, Sanderson said the city has a fire code requiring business inspections, but has not been implementing it.
“We have not been enforcing fire code for a number of years,” he said.
Businesses should be inspected regularly for fire codes, as is done in Perrysburg and Perrysburg Township. “We really need to be doing that.”
Sanderson estimated that fewer than 5 percent of businesses in Bowling Green are inspected each year.
“I know there are businesses that haven’t been inspected for many years,” he said.
Council member Theresa Charters Gavarone asked about fire code. Mr. Spots, a business owned by Gavarone and her husband, was recently damaged when a fire started at a neighboring business, the Corner Grill. She said while the newer Mr. Spots site has sprinklers, many older businesses don’t.
Sanderson said businesses have to meet the code requirements that were in place when they opened. As long as the use of the building has not changed, businesses are grandfathered in, the chief said.
