Town Hall Takes Almost A Year To Address Town Hall Fire Code Issues

A copy of a fire inspection report was handed out at the council
meeting last night.  Brock Vodden intercepted the distribution
of the few copies available, passed them out to staff, and kept the
remaining ones for himself.  A member of the public gallery had
to ask Vodden for a copy, as it was obvious he was not going
distribute them to the public.  This inspection report was
served to Gary Long on 2011/11/24.  It is not known why it has
taken almost a year to address these issues, which will apparently
cost North Huron taxpayers almost $33,000.00 to address.  The
unsafe condition of the building, and town staff taking almost a
year to address these issues, contributed greatly to the closing the
Wingham Heritage Theatre.  This is just one more example of how
poorly our facilities have been maintained and managed.

Below is a condensed copy of the fire inspection report.

Inspection Address.

Town Hall – 274 Josephine Street

The building lacks a suitable means to retard the effects of
fire on emergency egress facilities, to facilitate the timely
movement of persons to a safe place in an emergency, to notify
persons, in a timely manner, of the need to take action in a
emergency in the event of a fire.  the building also lacks a
suitable fire separation of the exit stairway between the second
floor Theatre area and the first floor municipal office.

1. Provide a fire separation between the theatrical stage and
the assembly occupancy in with…

2. Interior  finishes in the assembly occupancy (Theatre
seating area) shall comply with flame spread rating requirements
under clause…

3. Provide a second means of egress from the basement.

4. a. Exit doors and frames on the north and south stairways
from the second floor Theatre to be 1/4 hour fire rated.

    b. The door, frame walls and
ceiling in the south west exit stairway from the second floor
Theatre to be 3/4 hour fire rated.

    c. Self closing device required on the
door between the west exit stairway and the first floor municipal
office storage room.

    d. Transom over the door on the first
floor between the rear municipal storage room and the west exit
stairway to be 3/4 hour fire rated.

5. Fire alarm and detection system shall be installed in
compliance with Subsection 3.2.4 of the 1986 Building Code
(Detection required in the second floor Theatre seating and stage
areas.  Fan shutdown of the air handling systems.)

6. Repair the damaged ceilings in the basement storage and
furnace room areas.

7. Approved hardware designed to release the latch and allow
the door to open in the direction of travel when a force of 90N is
applied  to the hardware.

    a. Both exit doors on the north and south
stairways from the Theatre to the stairways on both the first and
second floors.

    b. The south west exit stairway from the
second floor Theatre to the rear of the building.

8. A fire safety plan shall be prepared and implemented for
the building.

9.  The fire safety plan shall be kept in the building
in an approved location.

10. Emergency lighting unit equipment shall be checked,
inspected and tested monthly.

11. At least one copy of the emergency  procedures hall
be prominently posted and maintained on each floor area.

12. The fire drill procedures shall be prepared in
consultation with the Chief Fire Official.

13. Fire drills once a month…

14. Permanent records for fire extinguisher
maintenance/testing.

15. Monthly fire alarm testing.

16. Written records shall be maintained  as
required  – Emergency Electrical Power Supply for
Buildings.

17. Records to be maintained on premises.

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