Fire Inspectors to work under code officer

Fire marshals will report to township code enforcement office.

By: Sharlee DiMenichi
   The Township Council approved moving township fire marshals from under police jurisdiction and placing them under the supervision of the township code enforcement office.
   Council members supporting the move, which passed 3-1, said it was necessary to clear a backlog of inspections. The fire marshal’s office conducts fire safety inspections on both commercial and rental units.
   Mayor Frank Gambatese said that, of 425 state-mandated inspections in 2002 of buildings designated as "life-hazard uses," only 126 inspections had been done. Buildings designated as life-hazard uses are those, such as chemical plants, which would be especially deadly if they caught fire.
   However, the move has drawn objections from fire commissioners in the township’s three fire districts, who said the marshals had been moved from code enforcement to the Police Department in 1995 at their request to increase efficiency and prevent conflicts between code enforcement officers and fire inspectors.
   About 15 fire commissioners, emergency service workers and police officers attended the council meeting Tuesday.
   Commissioners said the numbers of inspections reported to the state do not accurately reflect the number of inspections carried out.
   The state requires all cited problems at a building to be corrected before an inspection can be considered complete, said Jim Paulus, commissioner in Fire District 1 in Kendall Park.
   Fire Commissioner Norman Luck of District 3 in Kingston said he believes inspectors are doing their jobs and that township buildings do not endanger residents or firefighters.
   "We don’t have a problem going into any of these buildings around here," Mr. Luck said.
   Commissioners said the township should have consulted them before considering the change, which would transfer the six-member fire inspection staff from the supervision of Police Chief Michael Paquette to the oversight of Construction Official Anthony Lombardo.
   Fire commissioners have met with council members and Mayor Gambatese three times in recent weeks to discuss alternatives to the change but commissioners who spoke at the council meeting Tuesday said the township did not respond adequately to their concerns.
   "I think they’ve already made the decision. We’ve had three meetings and I don’t think we’ve accomplished anything in those meetings," said Jim Shearer, chief of the Monmouth Junction Volunteer Fire Department.
   Mayor Gambatese said he did not initially believe it was necessary to consult the fire commissioners about the move, but that he would do so in similar situations in the future.
   Mayor Gambatese said meetings with the fire commissioners, he suggested alternatives such as placing fire inspectors under county supervision and letting fire commissioners oversee their work.
   Commissioners said finding an alternative to moving the inspectors would take time and asked council to table the ordinance.
   "I would like to see them stay where they are and have an action plan to see if they can correct the problem," Chief Shearer said.