Fire chiefs call for county to adopt IFC

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Fire Chiefs Association is again appealing to county commissioners to fold the International Fire Code into local land-use regulations.

“The International Fire Code is in force statewide. It should be enforced in Bonner County,” Sagle Fire Chief Rob Goodyear said during the association’s meeting on Thursday.

The remarks came a day after commissioners approved a contested housing development at Morton Slough, a project which has become the latest flash point in the fire code dilemma.

The county stopped observing the fire code in 1997, when a prior board of commissioners disbanded the county building department to shed a layer of bureaucracy and streamline government.

Goodyear found himself encircled in the fire code controversy when he said the Ledges Over Pend Oreille would be held to IFC standards in order to protect firefighters and the proposed development’s inhabitants. The project has only one way in or out and part of its road infrastructure has grades exceeding 10 percent.

Sagle Fire had earlier agreed to accept the project’s access plans in exchange for requirements that the homes be built of flame-resistant materials and equipped with sprinklers. Several 10,000-gallon water tanks at the Ledges were also proposed.

However, Goodyear later reversed his position in the wake of an Idaho deputy attorney general’s finding that fire districts are empowered to enforce the fire code even if it’s not officially recognized by the county.

Although commissioners had the option of invoking the fire code on the Ledges development, they opted not to.

“They pretty much put it back on the Sagle Fire District to basically carry the ball,” Goodyear said.

The Ledges’ developer, Rich Curtis, contends his project has unfairly become the poster child for the fire code effort. He objects to introducing a new set of rules midstream.

Curtis also asserts that the IFC rules are more stringent than the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ standards.

“Why should we exceed those?” said Curtis.

The fire chiefs association planned to meet with commissioners shortly after Goodyear advised the county he would enforce the fire code, but commissioners declined to discuss the matter until after the Ledges project was decided.

But some members of the fire chiefs association are frustrated with the county’s inaction or harbor doubts commissioners have the political will to do anything about it.

“They’re not going to make that move,” said Sandpoint Fire Chief Robert Tyler, who recommended the association also appeal to lawmakers and other fire associations to bolster their efforts.

Commissioner Joe Young said he’s open to the idea of forming a task force to study the issue. But whatever is decided, proponents of the code would have to ensure there’s consistency among all the fire districts, an outreach campaign to educate the public and a collaborative approach to enforcing the code, he said.