Comments on: What is an Inspector

By: Fire Marshal Jeff Allen

Fire Marshal Jeff Allen — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:15:47 +0000

Interesting comments, all. First, let me say the best compliment I’ve received is when a suppression crew visited a business and the owner asked if the Fire Marshal was with them. He told them that the Fire Marshal was very tough, but also very fair. That’s how I want to be remembered; tough but fair. (You can throw consistent in the mix too.) A true Fire Inspector (and there aren’t many in my state) is a person who treats their duties with a passion, a good communicator and open to suggestions from his peers about daily functions. A true Fire Inspector admits he doesn’t know everything and admits when he makes a mistake. I’ve seen too many make a mistake about a code interpretation and even after they realized it, they still pushed the ‘solution’ through so they wouldn’t look like they didn’t know what they were doing. Well everyone sees the mistake they made and now know for sure that he doesn’t know what he is doing. A Fire Inspector is somebody that usually isn’t a line suppression person, so he is treated very differently by the other personnel at the department. He too often is a non-commissioned law enforcement officer who is placed into some extremely uncomfortable situations from time to time and must learn how to stick handle his way out of them. A Fire Inspector is someone who tells a business owner he has to spend money yet expects a hand shake and a thank you when he leaves at the completion of the inspection. A Fire Inspector can do more damage or more good for the department overall, than all of the fire suppression personnel, on any given day. A Fire Inspector has the opportunity to tarnish or polish his badge each and every day. A Fire Inspector must be a complete professional, or he is nothing at all.

By: Jim Yuill

Jim Yuill — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:52:59 +0000

A fire inspector is a professional who educates the building owner/occupant/general contractor on the hazards associated with fire. It is the fire inspector’s responsibility to ensure that the above are educated while using jurisdictional codes and standards as reference tools and using as basis for their respective decisions. This is coupled with having distinct knowledge of basic fire protection engineering principles and sound enforcement tactics. Utilizing the three E’s will enhance the safety of fire personnel and occupants of buildings.

By: Mark Spoo

Mark Spoo — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:52:33 +0000

The definition that I learned years ago was the inspector is a tool in the fire service that keeps occupants, residents and even more so their fellow fire fighter safe.
An inspector is the reconnaissance for fire crews before the fire and a resource after the fire to make things better in that building.
An inspector is the problem solver for the building owner, business owners and suppression crews
An inspector is flexible in tasks, time management and decision making
An inspector needs to be able to think on their feet and make decisions that impact from 1 to thousands of people.
The upmost thing is an inspector needs to be human.
This is NOT a job that lets one fulfill a power trip, sense of superiority, or a stepping stone to some political aspirations.
An inspector is one that puts their heart, soul and mind into a job, considers and realizes the outcome of their actions and does what is best for the total good and to keep their fellow firefighters safe.

By: C. W. Boss

C. W. Boss — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:03:20 +0000

I must agree with the Inspectors Dove. Particularly with Brian Dove’s assessment that “Fire (Prevention) Inspector(s) are firefighters that use a different set of tools.”

Personally I believe we need to know “what” fire is, what causes it, why and how it spreads just as fire fighters do, but instead of fighting it or attempting to extinguish it after it starts… our job as “Fire Prevention Inspectors” is to help property owner/operators identify and mitigate hazards and conditions and potential hazards and conditions that ordinary folks may not recognize as problems or sources of fire, that can CAUSE, PROPOGATE or SPREAD fire and keep them from getting to the point that they actually become a real threat to life or property.

I’ve always ascribed to the concept of the 3 E’s …ENGINEERing, EDUCATION and ENFORCEMENT.

If we continue to ENGINEER the built environment, design in active fire protective materials and systems to control and minimize fires ability to start and gain a destructive foothold and provide facilities for our constituents to make a quick
un-impeded escape where and when fires do occur and;

At the same time EDUCATE our “constituents” as to the nature of common fire hazards and causes and how to prevent them from occuring and mitigate them when they’re found and;

ENFORCE fire prevention codes regulations and standards in an educational and benevolent … rather punative manner (unless absolutely necessary for the 1 to 2% that just don’t get it otherwise);

We can continue to let the “Old Timers” down easy and reminisce with them about the days of old…of “loomers”… open cab firetrucks…leather fire helmets and riding tailboard… all the time reminding them that…

FIRE IS HOT, UNFORGIVING OF ERROR, AGGRESSIVE, PROGRESSIVE, AND ABSOLUTELY DESTRUCTIVE OF THINGS AND PEOPLE – INDISCRIMINATELY!

By: Paul Dove

Paul Dove — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:50:18 +0000

My philosophy concerning life safety aspects in fire prevention, inspection and fire protection, stem from the following four principles:

(1) Prevent the fire’s occurance through quality inspection and evaluation practices.
(2) Assuring the capability of the public to escape an emergency event in all venues and facilities.
(3) Assuring responder’s abilities to manage an incident with available resources.
(4) Assuring responders safe return from service to their communities.

I believe fire suppression is a failure in prevention. That’s what I try to accomplish in pre-construction consultation, plan review and inspection so I guess it defines my thought process of what a “fire inspector” should be.

By: Brian Dove

Brian Dove — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:27:43 +0000

A Fire Inspector is a fire fighter who uses different tools and methods. Sometimes you cannot see their results, but they probably save more lives and property than all combatants put together. They really don’t need to know too much about puttin out fire but a good one will make a combatant’s job easier to do and one they will come home from everytime in the same shape they went out on it.

When the Original Plan fails, for whatever reason, then combatants are the backup plan to stop loss of life or property. Fire Inspectors are not back up they are the Original Plan and should be proactive community preservation.

Fire Inspectors are also a line in the sand between “trunk slammers” and people that bother to take the time and effort to train their people, buy the right equipment for the job, install it properly, and maintain it through out the life of the event.

One of the greatest compliments Fire Inspectors recieve is a complaint from an old timer, “we don’t get any really big ones anymore like we used to.”

By: Wayne Morris

Wayne Morris — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:06:06 +0000

I agree with Richard, an inspector is someone who wants to make a difference, not just bide time. For so long, we have been labeled the “sick, lame and lazy” because many inspectors have come from the ranks of the fire service, and some feel that it was that was because they couldn’t handle the job of a firefighter. What many have failed to realize is, that coming from the ranks, we tend to understand the resposibility and the importance of the Inspector. Too many of our own are killed and injured each year, and an Inspector with the right mind set, can reduce or prevent it. When we all unite, just think what can be accomplished!

Wayne Morris
Fire Inspector

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:17:07 +0000

What/Who is an Inspector?
My vision of an inspector is the person living next door, down the street/road that has a passion for public safety. Has the deep rooted desire to assure that your neighborhood, shopping/entertainment experiance is as safe as possible. Has the moxie to to work with their peers to assure that they are as commited to safety as they are. The worst nightmare I can think of is waking up one morning and finding out that something I was convinced to let slide, by a business owner, contractor, etc.,was the cause of injury or even worse the death of an individual or even the loss of property (jobs) that would affect any of the communities in serve.

This is the way I look at my profession. I invision it as a sacred public trust that I have the privalage of providing these services every day.

Richard Smith,
Deputy State Fire Marshal

By: Major Herrick

Major Herrick — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:58:49 +0000

What is an inspector to me?

I have often pondered that question over the years as people ask the question: What do you for a living?

Its way too easy to answer with: I’m a fire inspector. Its also somewhat confusing to people. We, as inspectors, expect people to know what we do. However, I have often had people ask follow-up questions to the answer of “I’m a fire inspector.” Such as: “So, you go to fires and figure out what caused them?” or “So, you go around and service fire extinguishers?”

As a result, I have come up with more discriptive explinations of what I do:
*Official exit sign and emergency light button pusher.
*Oficial Sprinkler system and fire alarm tag checker.
*Darwinism preventor (Google Darwin awards)
*Extinguisher service police.
*Extension cord police.
*Business-owner baby-sitter. (AKA Business owner super-nanny)
*Stuipidity Stopper!
*Complacency Cop.
…and many others that escape me at the moment, but i think you get the idea.

In my jurisdiction, we have a small prevention bureau, so each inspector does a bit of everything. There are the four major divisions of duties in prevention of Inspection/code enforcement, education, investigation, and the youth fire setter program. Day-to-day duties include buisness inspections, public complaints, new construction inspections, new business inspections, code consultations, school presentations, fire investigations, youth firesetter interviews and counseling, constant training classes, and all the paperwork that accompanies each of the above. So, to me an inspector is someone that does these day-to-day activities in an effort to make the community they serve a safer, better place to work and live.

Major Herrick
Fire Inspector
City of Sparks, NV