Despite irregular inspections, only 2-3 commercial fires reported each year in Killeen

Killen Daily Herald
By Paul Bryant | Herald Staff Writer
October 16, 2022

Several scenarios apply that require businesses in Killeen to receive fire inspections. And although they should at least be done annually, the city lacks adequate personnel to conduct them.

“Having enough available fire inspectors in the Fire Marshal’s Office is the primary obstacle,” Chief Jim Kubinski of the Killeen Fire Department said. “Additionally, call volume is an obstacle to having on-duty, operations personnel who hold an inspector certification from completing annual inspections while on-duty for their 24-hour shift.”

Texas law mandates that fire inspectors must obtain certification through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

‘Preferred strategy’

“Having dedicated fire inspector positions in the Fire Marshal’s Office that do not require all of the TCOLE and Plan Review certifications, which our current Investigators must maintain, is the preferred strategy to resolving the hindrances,” Kubinski said. “TCOLE certifications are held by our captains. When you get promoted to the rank of captain, within six months, the expectation is to complete that certification, among others.”

The Killeen Fire Department employs 30 captains.

“In general, there is a lack of staffing across all city functions to maintain the current level of services, which are often inadequate as they are,” City Manager Kent Cagle wrote in his 2023 budget summary. “One example would (be) the lack of any fire inspections after a business receives their certificate of occupancy. A best practice would be annual fire inspections, but we lack the resources to inspect structures even once every (10) years.”

About 1,300 people work for the city of Killeen. That includes 239 sworn firefighters.

“Having enough available fire inspectors in the Fire Marshal’s Office is the primary obstacle,” Kubinski said. “Additionally, call volume is an obstacle to having on-duty, operations personnel who hold an inspector certification from completing annual inspections while on-duty for their 24-hour shift.”

More than 2,757 properties in Killeen are listed as commercial, Kubinski said.

“Of course, a single commercial structure can have multiple occupants (strip centers, shopping malls, etc). It will be difficult to get an accurate number without doing an actual inspection of each building. I would speculate the number is closer to 5,000 actual businesses.”

By the numbers

On average each year, fewer than five fires are reported at commercial properties.

“The 4-plexes get listed as commercial property but that, to me, is a residential structure fire. When it comes to commercial, it’s maybe three fires a year. And four is a busy year.”

Commercial fires account for 1 to 2% of fires reported annually in Killeen.

“We have roughly 100 residential structure fires a year,” Kubinski said. “That doesn’t count for smoke in the building, arcing wires and things like that.”

The causes, he said, range from mishandling cigarettes and other smoking materials or devices to improperly using electrical devices, such as overloading outlets.

“It’s a myriad of things, like leaving the room when candles are burning,” Kubinski said. “Then, of course, you have a small percentage of intentionally set fires and the Fire Marshal’s Office handles those cases.”

Hilton Garden Inn fire

One case of a commercial fire with near deadly consequences was the February 2021 burning of Hilton Garden Inn on O.W. Curry Drive during Winter Storm Uri.

The fully occupied four-story Hilton building erupted into flames on Feb. 19 during the height of the Texas storm that left millions without power and hundreds dead throughout the state. The fire was further complicated by a lack of water pressure from the power outage and freezing weather.

Firefighters from seven agencies battled the flames at hotel for hours before containing the fire early on Feb. 20.

None of the occupants of the hotel’s 102 rooms were seriously injured.

The 68-page fire investigation report obtained by the Herald through a Texas Public Information Act request includes over 30 fire investigation photos and multiple witness statements from hotel employees who said the fire suppression system was not functional in the days leading up to the blaze.

According to the report authored by Capt. Mike Eveans, Hilton hotel manager Tashia Bryce and General Manager Cheryl Shibuya told Eveans they noticed problems with the hotel’s fire suppression system the day before the massive fire.

“They stated the fire sprinkler system pipes froze and failed yesterday (Feb. 18, 2021),” the report shows.

The Hilton’s maintenance person, Natasha Aimes, told Eveans “she believed the sprinkler pipes burst due to being frozen on Wednesday (Feb. 17, 2021) night” and that she “turned the fire sprinkler riser off to stop the water from flooding the lobby.”

Aimes said she believed the pipes “only broke above the lobby area” and that she was “unaware” of any other reports of water flowing anywhere else in the hotel.

Property manager Sam Patel told Eveans he visited the hotel earlier in the day after a fire alarm sounded that Friday morning.

“When asked about the fire alarm at approximately 10:13 a.m., he stated he received a call from the monitoring company,” according to the report. “He stated he walked the halls with housekeeping and did not smell any smoke. He stated the fire alarm did not go off to his knowledge.”

Patel told Eveans “he canceled the incoming fire engine” that morning and that “the front desk staff frequently sets the fire alarm panel to silent due to false alarms.”

Patel said “the fire alarm would routinely go off for no reason” and that he “tried multiple times to get A-1 (Fire and Safety) to come and repair it, but they did not.”

Employees at A-1 Fire and Safety, which services fire alarms and sprinkler systems and monitors fire alarm systems, told Eveans “they never received a call for service to repair the sprinkler system” and that “they were not aware of any issue with the fire alarm panel.”

The fire alarm panel was last inspected in March 2020, according to the report. However, the report cites the alarm company “stated the red tag was rescinded due to the construction company doing the renovations (and) having new heads to install.”

According to the report, the fire started “in or near the west side of the attic.” Patel told Eveans “the owner was the only person who ever entered the attic.”

The hotel owner, Viu Le, told Eveans he was in the attic that Friday afternoon “for approximately 30 minutes” to add “a step to the ladder.”

Viu Le told Eveans “he was in the attic on the day of the fire at approximately 4-5 p.m.,” according to the report. “He stated he did not know what could have caused the fire in the attic.”

Eveans interviewed people staying on the fourth floor of the hotel who all had “a very similar recollection of the events prior to the fire,” according to the report.

The cause of the structure fire, according to the report, “was undetermined due to material loss from fire damage of the attic, and safety concerns of floor collapse.”

The property was razed months later, and nothing has been built on the land.

ISO rating

Meanwhile, the Killeen Fire Department has an Insurance Services Office, or iSO, rating of Class 1, which is the best possible rating.

ISO, an independent organization, scores fire departments on how they are performing against its organization’s standards to determine property insurance costs, according to its website. After analyzing the data it collects, the ISO assigns a Public Protection Classification on a scale from 1 to 10. The higher the ISO fire protection class (with Class 1 being the best), the “better” the department.

“Fire inspections are currently done when requested for a certificate of occupancy, which is required for any new business or when a business changes names or owners,” Kubinski said. “An inspection is also done when it is required for the renewal of a license (health-care facility, daycare, etc.). The process involves a KFD member physically reporting to the location and checking for issues as they pertain to life safety and fire codes.”

Inspections may take 15 minutes to four hours, depending on the size of the building.

‘All schools are inspected’

“All schools are inspected once per year and handled by the investigators currently assigned to the Fire Marshal’s Office,” Kubinski said. “Fire hazards, many times unintentionally, go unrecognized by building occupants. This can be something as simple as the use of too many extension cords or something more serious like a blocked or locked exit door. This poses a hazard to members of the public and emergency personnel when responding to a fire or other emergency.”

Kubinski was hired in December 2020, less than two months before Winter Storm Uri. He’s been a firefighter for more than two decades. Before coming to Killeen, he was assistant fire chief in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.