Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Commissioner calls failed checks ‘inexcusable’
By DUANE D. STANFORD and LAURA DIAMOND
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)
A fourth Gwinnett County fire official stepped down Friday after revelations the county skipped fire inspections at as many as 30 public and private schools in recent years.
Capt. Bruce Douglas, a 19-year Gwinnett department veteran, was a supervisor in the county fire marshal’s office. His resignation from the $62,000-a-year job is effective immediately, acting Gwinnett Fire Chief Steve Rolader said.
Gwinnett Commissioner Bert Nasuti said the missed inspections were “inexcusable.”
“Public safety is one of the areas you don’t get second chances,” Nasuti said. “We’re going to send a message from above that people need to do their jobs, or there’s going to be a price to pay.”
Inspector Bruce Caldwell, who worked for Douglas, was allowed to retire Feb. 10, the same day Gwinnett Fire Marshal Tim Eckenwiler resigned the job he had held since 2001. County officials have said Fire Chief Jack McElfish’s forced resignation last week also was due in part to the missed school inspections.
Attempts to reach Eckenwiler, McElfish and Caldwell on Friday were unsuccessful.
David Wiley, assistant fire chief in charge of the department’s safety and education division, has been assigned to the marshal’s office full time to get it back in order, Rolader said.
Rolader also said further investigation Friday revealed there may not be as many missed inspections as initially thought, but the investigation is not complete.
On Thursday, Rolader said some of the schools hadn’t been inspected during the past year or two, and a dozen hadn’t been inspected since 2000. Most of the schools named Thursday were in the Gwinnett public school system. One was in the Buford city school system, and five were private schools.
County officials discovered the inspections had been skipped after having trouble filling an open records request by a local television station.
Phil Stalvey, director of buildings and grounds for the private Wesleyan School in Norcross, said he contacted the fire marshal’s office several times during the past 2 1/2 years to set up appointments for the marshals to visit the school, but they never showed up.
“They used to be really good about it, so I don’t know what happened,” Stalvey said, “but I hope this wakes them up.”
County officials said they now have inspected all the schools that had been missed. They said no serious fire code violations were discovered.
State Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine, whose son attends Greater Atlanta Christian School, one of the uninspected private schools, said his fire marshals will verify that all Gwinnett inspections have been completed. He said his marshals are available to inspect schools that aren’t current.
“I’m concerned if required inspections are not being done at my son’s school,” Oxendine said.
Checks are required
State law requires Gwinnett County to inspect schools for fire hazards, such as blocked exits, broken fire extinguishers and burned-out exit signs. But the law doesn’t specify how often those inspections must occur, Oxendine confirmed.
“We view three years as a good rule, but obviously every year is preferable,” he said.
Gwinnett administrators said county policy requires that schools be inspected annually, acknowledging their employees should have been more diligent.
Gwinnett school officials say they don’t depend solely on the county fire department to inspect their buildings. The system’s maintenance and facilities department checks school sprinkler systems, fire alarms and extinguishers throughout the year, following guidelines from the National Fire Protection Association.
Beverly Bergman has three children at Sycamore Elementary, one of the schools officials say went uninspected. Bergman said she was shocked to learn that four other schools near Suwanee and Sugar Hill also were neglected by county fire inspectors.
“I’m confident the school was doing everything it was supposed to to keep the kids safe,” said Bergman, PTA president at Sycamore.
“But I just wonder why the inspectors weren’t doing their jobs. I just wonder why they weren’t looking out for our kids.”
County not only source
School board Chairman Robert McClure said the county’s fire inspections provide an extra set of eyes to make sure the schools are safe.
“We need that, and we expect that,” McClure said.
J. Anthony Knight, principal of Covenant Christian Academy in Loganville, said someone from the fire marshal’s office inspected the campus in June.
“I’m not saying they were here every year like they’re supposed to, but they do come out,” Knight said. “Maybe they’re not keeping up with their records. Maybe they’re skipping schools. Either way, that is not a good thing.”
Providence Christian Academy Headmaster James Vaught Jr. said fire inspectors visited the Lilburn school earlier this month and found a burned-out light bulb in an exit sign. Before that visit, the last check was conducted in August 2003, he said.
Vaught said someone inspected the school during the years construction was under way. But once those projects were finished, the inspections were sporadic, he said.
Steve Tuck, facilities director at Providence, said the school employs a private company to inspect sprinkler systems, fire alarms and other safety measures annually.
“I don’t want to say it doesn’t concern me,” Tuck said of the missed county inspections, “but I feel like we’ve been evaluated enough.”
Oxendine said private schools often do their own fire-code inspections to satisfy insurance companies, but the county checks serve as an outside review. Organizations doing their own inspections could be tempted to put off costly fixes, for example. County inspectors can close down unsafe buildings.
“You need to have an outside independent person come in and periodically make sure the inspections are being done properly,” Oxendine said.