The 1995 Sonoma County Grand Jury received a citizen's complaint concerning
the Public Safety Department and the Building Department in Rohnert Park.
The City of Rohnert Park was founded in 1969. The founders decided that
the City would not have traditional fire and police departments. Instead,
they created a Public Safety Department where today 57 officers serve as
both firefighters and police officers. In Rohnert Park, the majority of
Public Safety Officers have a police training background. Only two members
of the Department have fire training background. The Rohnert Park Public
Safety Department uses as a guideline, the standards and practices of The
National Fire Protection Association for training and written testing of
its Public Safety Officers.
Three major fires have occurred in Rohnert Park over the last three years.
The homes involved in these fires were total losses. Response time to these
fires was at best "poor", according to the Director of Public
Safety.
Rohnert Park has four fire stations. Until 1994 none were manned. Public
Safety and Volunteer personnel responded to the stations when a fire call
was received. For the past year the Public Safety Headquarters has been
manned with a three-person crew. A second station was to have been manned
as well. This second station was in fact manned for the first time the day
after a fire had destroyed another home. Two stations remain unmanned.
A first-responder fire engine is housed at the Public Safety Headquarters.
It is parked behind locked gates, in a garage behind headquarters. To respond
to an emergency call, the truck must drive through the Public Safety Department
parking lot, through the security gate, down City Hall Drive and onto State
Farm Drive. If the fire was to the east, the fire engine would have to turn
left onto Rohnert Park Expressway.
Over the years, with a building boom going on in Rohnert Park, records of
building permits and the inspection thereof have been sparse. Many building
permits were not signed off in the usual manner as work progressed but rather
'blanket sign offs' were done at the end of the project .
The Uniform Building Code states or requires :
The Grand Jury interviewed :
The Grand Jury reviewed the following :
The Grand Jury inspected:
1. Many citizens of Rohnert Park believe they have a 'traditional' fire
department.
2. The Public Safety Director of Rohnert Park told the Grand Jury, "Only
one out of my staff of 57 is a fireman." (5/31/95)
3. The Grand Jury observed Public Safety personnel, in two separate instances,
wearing their guns and carrying live ammunition while actively engaged in
fire fighting.
4. In many cases annual fire safety inspections in Rohnert Park have
not been done. When these were conducted, many of the inspections were incomplete.
5. Many homes constructed in Rohnert Park do not have proper firewalls
in the garages. Nails were not taped and 'mudded.' On an inspection tour
seven out of the eight houses the Grand Jury inspected had improper firewalls.
6. The Grand Jury observed a home in Rohnert Park which was destroyed
by fire in 1995. There was no tape on the seams of the firewall in the garage.
7. A devastating fire occurred in a condominium development in Rohnert
Park. Twelve units were completely destroyed. The official report on the
fire stated that the "fire spread through a common attic."
8. This condominium development did not have permits that were properly
signed off by the building inspector. The permits contained 'blanket sign
offs.'
9. Following the fire, the condominium units were rebuilt and proper
fire walls were installed.
10. In two of the original buildings which were not damaged by the fire,
the Grand Jury found that the firewalls were breached in several places.
Holes ranging in size from 2 to 12 inches were discovered surrounding piping
through the firewalls.
11. The Building Code required that firewalls be sheetrocked on both
sides in condominiums. In two original buildings that the Grand Jury inspected,
firewalls were not properly constructed. Only one side of the firewall was
sheetrocked.
12. The original building inspection of the condominium development did
not record the fact that proper firewalls were not installed.
13. It took 12 minutes to get water onto a fire that occurred in Rohnert
Park in 1995. At this fire a fire hose burst, interrupting operations.
14. According to records supplied to the Grand Jury by the Public Safety
Department all fire hoses are NOT tested annually in accordance with the
minimum standards of the National Fire Protection Association. The Grand
Jury found that NONE of the Rohnert Park Public Safety Department's fire
hoses that are routinely carried on fire trucks have been inspected and
tested in the LAST TWO YEARS. In fact, the Grand Jury found some fire hoses
have not been inspected FOR EIGHT YEARS! (As of 11/6/95)
1. Fire engine response time to some fires in Rohnert Park have been less
than adequate.
2. Shortcuts appeared to have been taken by the Building Department and
the City of Rohnert Park. Permits were not individually signed off as construction
progressed. Instead, the building inspector checked a random sampling of
homes and did 'blanket sign offs.'
3. Many houses in Rohnert Park have firewalls between the garage and
the house that do not meet building codes. These houses are in greater jeopardy
from fire than houses with a true firewall.
4. Some condominium developments in Rohnert Park do not have proper firewalls.
Thus the units are vulnerable to fires in the common attic.
5. Rohnert Park does not follow the minimum standards set by the National
Fire Protection Association. They do not inspect, test and mark fire hoses
on an annual basis.
6. Public Safety Officers, who act as both police officers and firefighters,
do not receive the same amount of fire training as firefighters in other
jurisdictions who work on only one service.
1. The Rohnert Park Public Safety Department inspect and test all fire hoses
in accordance with the standards of the National Fire Protection Association.
2. Rohnert Park Building Department be more vigilant in its inspections
of houses and condominiums.
3. Rohnert Park implement and follow their plan to do proper fire inspections.
4. Rohnert Park improve response time to fires.
5. Rohnert Park increase tactical training for Public Safety Officers
in the area of fire fighting.
6. Rohnert Park issue a public safety alert notifying residents to inspect
their firewalls to insure they are properly installed, and provide basic
instructions on how to correct the problems.
7. Rohnert Park inspect condominiums within the City boundaries to insure
that firewalls are properly installed and provide basic instructions on
how to correct the problems.
Rohnert Park Public Safety Department 1, 3, 4, 5
Rohnert Park City Council 2, 6, 7
Rohnert Park City Manager 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Rohnert Park Building Department 2
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