Fire Marshal ReportCity of Menifee Office of the Fire Marshal
Report for March 2018
Statistics:
All planning case reviews are conducted by the Fire Marshal. Fire protection plan reviews are conducted in-house by either the Fire Marshal or Fire Safety Specialist. No fire related
plans are going out to a consultant.
Field inspections are also conducted by the Fire Marshal and Fire Safety Specialist.
Planning Case Reviews:
There were 8 planning case reviews for fire-conditions/requirements completed in March.
There are 6 Planning cases pending review. The next case is due April 5th.
Planning case reviews are current and within due dates.
Average turn- around time to review is on time based on due dates or within 1 day of due dates. 15 days per planning case review time is normally allotted.
New Construction Plan or Tenant Improvement Reviews:
There were 10 fire plan reviews for fire protection systems, residential developments, Underground water supply, Water supply/Emergency access and individual Accessory structures completed
in March.
There are 13 fire plans pending review. Next plan due is due April 6th.
Turnaround time: at 15 days or within 15 days of submittal. Averaging 7-10 days turn-around Scheduled field Inspections uptick is having an impact on plan review time. Fire Safety Specialist
overtime is averaging 5 hrs. per week to compensate and keep within due dates.
Inspections: 136 field fire protection related inspections were completed in March.
Field inspection requests and inspections completed are up 53% from February inspections. The number for February inspections conducted was 89.
Most inspections are scheduled and completed within 48 hours of request. The growth in residential fire sprinkler inspections has had a direct impact on the OFM office this month.
With the recent increase for residential sprinkler inspections we may need to be scheduling for a 72 hour instead of a 48 hr. window.
Contractors are blocking time to secure inspections on the schedule a week ahead of time. Our schedule has filled up to the 2nd week of April.
Both the Fire Marshal and Fire Safety Specialist are conducting field inspections and plan reviews to keep within the turn-around times for all projects.
Administrative
Scheduling for inspections, documentation, e-mail and returning phone calls to contractors is taking up to 4-5 hours per week. Fire Safety Specialist is currently handling bulk of scheduling.
Documenting inspections, for billing, reinspections, posting inspections completed and tracking progress for reviews and inspections is taking up the bulk of office time.
Consultation for counter/phone in or e-mail requests is also occurring intermittently. Several hours a week are dedicated to these random requests.
Fire Marshal has requested that the student-intern volunteer program initiated by Mt. San Jacinto College and facilitated by City Clerk Sarah Manwaring be utilized for clerical services
as the backlog of filing, documentation and fielding phone calls to the office are impacting technical plan review time and field inspection time.
In addition fire technology students from MSJC and other local Community Colleges will be tapped to assist where possible. This will provide training, hours for students and opportunities
for possible candidates. While volunteers and interns cannot conduct field inspections due to State regulations they can assist with many of the tasks both inside the office and in
the field when overseen by a full time staff Inspector.
Significant Inspections or Events in March for the Office of the Fire Marshal
The Fire Marshal accompanied Battalion 13 Fire Operations crews during a pre-plan training walk-through at the Sun City Garden Senior Apartment Facility. Several recommendations were
made to the property manager and maintenance employee for fire-life safety concerns at the complex.
Fire crews reported structural damage to the roof structure at the Sun City Von’s Market. Fire Marshal Villalobos accompanied Craig Carlson, Building and Safety Department Manager to
the site and an assessment was made of the damaged roof support joists.
Shown is an example of one of several joists that failed in the west façade portion of the roof structure. Mr. Carlson stated damage may have been due to the material not being originally
rated for use in roof supports. The dryness of the wood and the presence of excessive knots in the wood contributed to the failure according to Mr. Carlson.
This site assessment re-emphasized the need to have an annual inspection program for existing commercial occupancies to ensure the safety of the public and first responders.
The shops at Newport reached another milestone with the testing and flowing of the on-site fire hydrants. This is necessary to allow any consideration for occupancy and also to provide
on-site fire protection for continued progress on the site.