BURKE COUNTY
FIRE
MARSHAL'S OFFICE
The Fire Marshal's Office
provides three major services, which are enforcement, regulatory and hazardous
materials response.
The enforcement
service consists of the investigation of fires for the determination of origin
and cause, whether accidental or incendiary; any fire related death or injury,
and complies all the related documentation for such instances. All fire and arson investigations are
conducted from the preliminary investigation, to follow ups, to the
prosecution, if warranted, and work in conjunction with other agencies such as
the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms where the scope of the investigation may fall within their
jurisdiction. Also, the Fire Marshal's
Office enforces the County's open burning regulations, which prohibits the
burning of any refuse materials. All
members are state certified fire investigators or working towards
certification. The Fire Marshal's
Office conducts approximately seventy fire, arson, and explosive investigations
per year.
The
regulatory service consists of the inspection of all buildings (businesses,
factories, industries, churches, schools, day cares, rest homes, etc.) within Burke County as they relate to the
maintenance and requirements of the North Carolina State Fire Prevention Code,
Volume 5. The overall inspection
process includes building plans review for new occupancies, the issuance of
permits, sprinkler plans review, fire alarm systems review, and the inspection
of the occupancy for any life safety (ex. exits) or fire safety (ex.
housekeeping) violations. Should any
violation(s) occur, corrective actions are suggested and a re-inspection is
conducted. All personnel are certified
as Fire Inspector Level III by the North Carolina Code Officials Qualification
Board. The Fire Marshal's Office conducts four hundred eighty inspections per year.
The
hazardous materials response service is a joint venture between the Fire
Marshal's Office, other emergency agencies, and Morganton Department of Public
Safety that came together to form a hazardous materials response team. The haz mat team was formed in 1988 and is
available to respond to all areas of the County and municipalities. The team consists of twenty-one members and
two response vehicles. Eleven members
are state certified at the technician level that requires over two hundred
hours of initial training and the remaining personnel are state certified at
operations level. The team is capable
to respond to a situation involving the release of a hazardous material from a
fixed facility or a transportation incident for mitigation purposes that may
require the use of special chemical protective clothing and respiratory
protection. The hazardous materials
team responds to approximately twenty-five calls per year. Also, the Fire Marshal's Office maintains
chemical inventories from over one hundred thirty -five fixed facilities that
are required to report under a federal law known as the Superfund Amendments
and Reauthorization Act of 1986, or better known as SARA Title III.
The Fire
Marshal's Office has joined forces with other agencies in a cooperative effort
to promote fire safety within the county.
This includes participating with Burke County Firefighter's Association
and the Burke County Health Department in a local level program entitled
Operation Fire Safe. This state wide
program is sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Insurance - Office of
State Fire Marshal and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services - Division of Public Health as part of the Get Alarmed North Carolina
Task Force initiative to help prevent residential fire deaths in our state by
installing smoke detectors within the home.
This program targets low-income families with or without children, fixed
income families, older adults or disabled persons. This program is not available to families or persons who rent
since state law requires all rental property to have a working smoke detector
installed. Also, in conjunction with
the Burke County Firefighters Association we have provided fire prevention and
educational materials to each public and private elementary school in Burke County
for the past twelve years. These
materials are furnished by the National Fire Safety Council and are used by
teachers to help promote fire safety within the school and home. Local business leaders and organizations,
and fire departments within the county fund this project.
Other
services by the Fire Marshal's Office are support to search and rescue
missions, the inspection of houses for the presence of asbestos for possible
live fire training by the fire departments, carbon monoxide detection, fire
extinguishers training, and fire protection, safety and education classes to
local organizations.