Township mulling fire ordinance

Gray said the township was approached by Fire Chief James Blount and Captain Harold Erdley Jr. during Monday night’s meeting about the fire ordinance. They told supervisors that Lewisburg Borough has already adopted the ordinance, and inspections have started.

Gray said, “We don’t have any ordinance requiring fire inspections today. Some facilities, proactively call the fire department to do an inspection for them, but nothing is required through our township.”

“There are about 300 businesses in East Buffalo Township that will be affected by the ordinance,” Gray said. “Depending on what type of business and its size would determine how often and how much it would cost to have the fire inspection done.

“A business such as a hotel or assisted living facility would undergo an inspection every year while businesses that don’t have as much public traffic their inspections would be done every three years,” Gray added.

The cost to inspect would vary depending on the square footage of the business.

“If a business is around 2,000-square-feet, it would cost the business $50, a business 2,000- to 5,000-square-feet would cost $100 and the prices go up according to square footage,” said Gray.

The costs would be paid by the businesses. The fire department has a list of things it will be looking for when inspecting, including whether sprinkler systems are installed and if they work properly, if outlets and electrical breakers overloaded, and if exits are properly marked.

The supervisors looked over the number of fire calls in East Buffalo Township over the last four years.

“There were 26 fires in East Buffalo Township during the past four years and only two of them were in commercial businesses,” stated Gray. “We need to look at the cost benefit and analysis before we make any decisions. We’re going to take a month and look over things and will likely make a decision on whether we are going to adopt the ordinance next month.”

In other business, the township supervisors approved the application for two grants from the state.

“East Buffalo Township is applying for a grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development for $250,000 which will go towards additional work at the Turtle Creek Park property,” Gray said. “The second grant the township is applying for is a $250,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the Spruce Hills Park.”