Local & State Headlines

Fire code revamped

• The Albany Fire Department is state-mandated to inspect businesses for the fire code.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — For business owners, bringing a new sparkle to an old building can be costly in and of itself, but new changes in the fire code could leave business owners digging even deeper in their pockets, fire officials say.

The fire code, which governs building codes in an effort to make businesses as safe as possible for consumers and staffers alike, has some new amendments that require a little more out of business owners than before, Albany Fire Chief James Carswell said.

“There are some things that the developers of the code have looked at and revamped with the intentions of saving even more lives; that is the bottom line,” Carswell said.

The fire code has typically required business owners who remodel their existing buildings, or who rezone their business from one classification to another, to install things like “exit” signs or sprinkler systems.

But the code has changed in some areas that could require business owners to fork out a little more money to save more lives.

For example, offices who may have a commercial stove in a break-room for employees had to either install a fire suppression system or take out the stove and put in a residential unit instead, under the old code. Now, even residential stove units used in businesses must have a hood fire suppression system to meet code requirements.

In addition to the code changes, Carswell said that his department is making headway to become even more pro-active on inspecting businesses to make sure they’re up to code.

“People need to know that the fire code isn’t the same thing as the building code,” Carswell said. “And just because you may meet the building codes, doesn’t mean that you meet the fire codes.”

Because of the population size of the city of Albany, Carswell and the department are mandated by the state to inspect businesses, Carswell said.

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