Marshal’s school inspection under fire
Houston Fire Marshal Jerry Ford personally inspected and approved a fire-protection system that a fire inspector had found was not up to code at a private high school his son previously attended, according fire department employees and newly acquired emails.
The Houston Chronicle obtained dozens of emails that showed concerns were raised within the department in March over the issue. More than a half-dozen employees spoke about the matter but requested their names not be used for fear of retaliation.
“Using the authority of The Office of the Fire Marshal, he allowed a fire alarm company to install a fire alarm system without following the fire code,” a frustrated inspector wrote to another fire department colleague in an email.
Ford responded that he had not given any preferential treatment to the school — St. Pius X High School — and said his son had only attended the institution for one semester in 2011.
“I have no ties to the school or to current admin-
istrators,” he said, adding the school “has corrected all ‘imminent threat to life’ problems and actively working to correct minor code compliance issues.”
Ford said he personally inspected the school only after he was unable to find a fire inspector who could do so. He said he intervened so that the school could continue to operate under a goto-work permit, which is allowed when code issues are being resolved.
Houston Fire Department interim Chief Rodney West, Ford’s boss, said he was unaware of selective code enforcement within the Fire Marshal’s Office.
“I take all allegations that threaten public safety very seriously, and I will be looking into the matter and let the facts dictate future action,” he said. “With regard to code enforcement, I expect all fire codes to be enforced fairly and uniformly.” Tumultuous time
The dispute comes at a tumultuous time within the office — a division within the department.
Inspectors have been refusing to follow Ford’s orders for building inspections, citing concerns that they endangered public safety and artificially inflated the department’s inspection statistics.
Ford had ordered inspectors to examine only every third floor in the city’s high-rises, for example, and set quotas that inspectors visit three high-rises a day, something inspectors said was “not possible.”
Now, new emails show that employees inspecting St. Pius X tried to address fire code violations discovered in an inspection there several months ago.
“The school has a sprinkler system that was added in an addition to the building but the existing building has no coverage,” an inspector wrote in a February email after inspecting the north Houston Catholic high school, a baseball powerhouse that has won numerous district and state titles in past years.
Ford’s younger son played there in 2011, the year before the school took home a state championship.
St. Pius X had been notified as far back as 2007 that a manual and automatic fire alarm system needed to be installed in the facility, according to the emails.
An inspector discovered in 2015 the work hadn’t been done and notified superiors, who ordered an intervention plan be put in place, according to employees and the emails. Visit ‘highly unusual’
At a March 11 meeting following the February inspection, St. Pius X school administrators met with Ford and other fire marshal employees and agreed to a two-part plan to bring the existing building up to code and then remove the old, inadequate system.
A subsequent inspection on March 21 revealed the school had installed some systems but that the facility remained in violation of the code.
When the inspector tried to write a ticket and cite the facility, administrators rebuffed him, explaining that Ford had visited the school on March 19 and inspected and verbally approved their system.
“Chief Ford has made an inspection at St. Pius X High School in person on Saturday March 19, 2016 and given his approval for their fire alarm system,” wrote Byron Robinson, a senior inspector, in a March 22 email, detailing the conundrum to his bosses. “However, it appears that the gym is not in compliance. Also the plans that (went) to plan review were rejected.”
The visit was highly unusual, fire marshal employees said. “I’ve never seen the fire marshal himself go and do an inspection on a fire alarm system that wasn’t approved,” one employee said. “That’s just the simplest way I can give it to you.”
Ford disputed those assertions.
“As fire marshal, I have visited several different occupancies in the middle of the inspection process when I felt it was needed,” he said.
Shortly after his visit, the school’s director of facilities emailed fire inspectors.
“The Fire Marshal’s Office has requested that you direct all inquiries to them regarding information about our fire alarm and permit status. Thanks!” Curt Wissmiller wrote.
Ford tried to address the concerns of his subordinates the next day.
“I’m trying to work with the school to ensure that the kids are safe and at the same time have the school address the problems listed on your inspection report and the reports from the past 9 years,” he wrote. “We are granting them a Temporary Go To Work Permit which you fail to speak about which is consistent with the building department when a contract’s plan have not been approved. … I provided you with a copy of the Go to work permit.”
The email from Ford continued, “No inspectors showed up per my orders so I took the initiative to go myself. I took the initiative because I am concerned enough to follow up with our commitments to ensure safety for our citizens. If there are any more concerns do not email me, come talk to me personally, emailing is not a good way to communicate and get a clear understanding.”
Inspectors responded that they had been on vacation or on other jobs on the days Ford had ordered them to meet at the school and that the go-to-work permit didn’t apply to fire alarm systems. Stardig to investigate
When contacted about the dispute, Houston City Councilwoman Brenda Stardig said she would be investigating the situation and contacting the mayor.
“I’m always concerned when there’s preferential treatment given to anyone with regard to city code ordinances,” said Stardig, who chairs the council’s public safety and homeland security committee. “Enforcement should be evenhanded — at the very least for public safety.”
Janice Evans, a spokeswoman for Mayor Sylvester Turner, declined to respond to several questions emailed to her office, referring to HFD’s response.
St. Pius X officials said that before last year’s inspection, they believed they had been in compliance with the city’s code.
“In 2007, outstanding items were brought to our attention and were addressed and systematically upgraded over time through an approved course of action. With this approved course of action, St. Pius X was under the understanding that we were compliant,” Head of School Sister Donna M. Pollard wrote, in an email.
“In addition, we have approvals from inspections from 2008 to 2015.”
“In spring of 2016, the school was made aware of required upgrades that needed to be implemented immediately. All parties, including the fire inspector and fire marshal, agreed to a course of action. The building is now in compliance per the approved course of action, which included two phases. Phase I is complete and Phase II will be completed before the start of the 2016-17 school year.”
Pollard denied the school had received any special treatment.
“We were given a task to complete and completed it in an extremely short time frame,” she wrote. “The safety of our students, faculty and staff is of our utmost importance. When the two phases are complete, St. Pius X will have spent at minimum $150,000 in six months coming into compliance.”
Six weeks later, inspectors remain concerned with how the situation at the school was handled. st.john.smith@chron.com twitter.com/stjbs