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Division Chief/Fire
Marshal: Steve Kastner |
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Battalion Chief: John San Angelo |
Mission Statement
"To mitigate and control the
spread of fire through fire plan review, community fire
safety education, fire code enforcement, engineering and
evaluation of all property in the City of Fort Lauderdale
to assure all citizens an equal quality of life through
fire safety protection."
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Bureau Information
The Fire Prevention Bureau enforces applicable provisions
of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life/Safety
Codes and Standards, Florida Fire Prevention Code, the
Florida Building Code and the City of Fort Lauderdale
Municipal
Code of Ordinances as it relates to life safety enforcement
for the public. The bureau conducts annual fire inspections
on all commercial and residential occupancies equal to
three units and greater as mandated by law. All bureau
fire inspectors are state of Florida certified firefighters
and fire safety inspectors.
Fire inspection personnel conduct annual, specialized
fire protection system inspections, such as standpipe
and automatic fire sprinkler protection system testing,
smoke evacuation systems testing and general fire alarm
system testing.
The bureau also reviews all new and existing building
plans for Construction Services' "One-Stop
Shop" permitting. A fire protection engineer
and fire lieutenant/fire plan examiner are employed to
examine all applicable building plans to assure that they
meet all requirements of national, state and local codes
and standards. The fire plan examiners then present comments
to the design professional if the building plans lack
specific fire/life safety or building code requirements.
The design professional will then be required to revise
the drawings to reflect fire codes not identified on the
original blueprint.
A bureau fire inspector is assigned for the purpose of
inspecting construction sites to assure the final product
of the building meets with the approved building plans.
The fire inspector tests all fire protection and fire
alarm systems to ensure all function as required by code.
Upon approval by the fire inspector, a certificate of
occupancy or building permit approval will be signed off
once all systems and inspections of the finished site
are tested and approved.
Fire Marshal
The fire marshal oversees bureau functions, such as:
- Fire investigations
- Special events/fireworks
- Fire safety education
- Fire plan review
- Data control
- Revenue
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Bureau Facts
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· In fiscal year 2003-2004, the Fire
Prevention bureau realized $982,410.00 in annual
fire life safety inspection revenue. This is
up 21% from FY 2002-2003 annual fire life safety
revenue totals. The Fire Plan Review Division
realized $488,295.00 up 6% from FY 2002-2003
revenue. Total revenue generated by fire inspection
and plan review staff for your Fire prevention
Bureau in FY 2003-2004 totaled $1,470,705.00.
The increase in revenue is up 16% from FY 2002-2003.
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· In fiscal
year 2003-2004, Fire Prevention Bureau fire inspectors
conducted 20,993 fire life safety inspections.
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In 2004, the Fire Investigation Unit (FIU) investigated
251 fires and hazardous incidents with a cause
determination rate of 99%. Of the 251 fires and
hazards investigated, 71 fire cases were determined
to be intentionally set, 177 fire and hazard
investigation cases were determined as unintentional/accidental,
and 3 investigation cases were deemed undetermined
since a cause could not be defined to one ignition
source. Tragically, the FIU responded to 5 fire
fatality investigations and 4 non-fire fatality
investigation responses in the 2004 calendar
year.
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In 2004, the FIU investigated an estimated $8,571,475
in fire/hazard loss. Total assessed property
investigated during this period accounted for
$898,984,450 or less than 1% ratio between dollar
damage versus overall assessed property value.
This impressive ratio proves that your Fire-Rescue
personnel are committed to preserve proprty values
from the devastating effects from fires and/or
hazards.
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