New Milford approves safeguards to prevent fire risks
NEW MILFORD — Under the town’s new rules, any commercial project involving sparks, flames or heat will need to track its hazards and safeguards to ensure a fire won’t start.
The Town Council unanimously approved a hot work ordinance — new rules prompted by a July roof fire at New Milford High School — at its meeting on Monday.
Fire Marshal Kevin Reynolds requested the ordinance at the Council’s Oct. 24 meeting. He said having such an ordinance would allow for better oversight of local construction projects that could be a fire risk, thereby preventing accidents, like the school fire, which caused major damage and sent six firefighters to the hospital.
“Hot work” is any activity or process that involves open flames or that generates sparks or heat. This includes (but is not limited to) welding and allied processes, heat treating, grinding, thawing pipes, powder driven fasteners, hot riveting, torch applied roofing, pipe sweating and any similar applications producing or using sparks, flames or heat.
The ordinance only applies to construction, renovation and repair projects in commercial buildings, and is based on the National Fire Protection Association’s rules and regulations.
Under the association’s standards, every job site involving hot work requires a permit to document the hazards and safeguards in place to ensure the work doesn’t cause a fire. The permit can also serve as an on-site permit completed by the hot work contractor and posted at the work site to advise workers that hot work is being performed at the site.
There was some discussion between the council about whether or not to change part of the ordinance’s wording to read “any similar applications using sparks, flames or heat” instead of “any similar applications producing or using sparks, flames or heat.” Council Vice Chair Katy Francis said changing the wording will not change anything as far as the intent or scope are concerned.
Councilwoman Hilary Ram
“Hot work” is any activity or process that involves open flames or that generates sparks or heat.
said the wording should be changed because the ordinance, as it stands, precludes smaller commercial projects from falling under the hot work umbrella and dissuades the projects from coming into town.
Councilwoman Alexandra Thomas suggested the council review the ordinance again in six months to see how many people applied for hot work permits, whether the ordinance is “doing the job that we need” and whether the town is getting any pushback about the ordinance.
“It’s like anything else — you introduce something new, then you go back to see if it’s getting the work done or is something wrong with it,” Thomas said.