A few days ago our fire crews responded to a fire alarm at a two story retirement home containing 102 resident rooms. Upon arrival the fire officers noticed that no one was exiting the building. During a discussion with one of our Lieutenants the management staff mentioned that their corporate policy was to have the residents shelter in place in the event of a fire or fire alarm. After hearing about the shelter in place policy our command staff has some concerns.
I stopped by the facility yesterday to follow up on a fire alarm issue and was able to talk to the manager and the maintenance man concerning their fire alarm procedures. I was told that they provide handouts to the residents that encourage them to stay in their room and someone will come to the room and inform them if they need to evacuate the building. I asked how many staff members work at night the answer was none "They are a 7 am to 7 pm facility with some home health workers that are there for some individual residents". They informed me that there are three staff members that live within five minutes of the facility that would respond and direct the residents in the event of a fire . When this facility was built there were two apartments dedicated for live-in managers.
At first glance I feel their policy is very problematic. The handout says this policy is based on IFC Chapter 4 . I read through Chapter 4 and did not find any clear evidence supporting their policy. The building was built in 2001.
I have attached a copy of the handout . According to a quick google search this company manages over 200 retirement communities in North America. With managing that many properties I would guess there are a few more located in Indiana. Has any one else ran into these type of issues with a retirement home. If so, how did you address the issue? I have requested more clarification from their corporate office and a letter from their insurance company stating that they are aware of the shelter in place policy and the insurance company approves of the policy. I have notified our Operations Chief of their policy and let him know that I would be reaching out to other fire department inspectors via this forum.
I learned early on as a fire inspector that there are a lot of exceptions in the code and just because something does not look right does not mean it is wrong . Please feel free to contact me at ttodd@columbus.in.gov /(812) 603-2086 in addition to replying to this forum.Thanks in advance!
Stay safe and stay sane,
Inspector Troy Todd
Columbus Fire Department
