The Inspector General’s Office for the City of Chicago has found the fire department’s Fire Prevention Bureau lacking when it comes to required building inspections, saying it is “unable to accurately assess which buildings are at greatest risk for fire.”
An audit found the bureau does not complete all annual inspections and does not maintain an accurate inventory of buildings required to be inspected.
It found that just 17 percent of buildings received an inspection over a period of 12 months, and that half had not been inspected in five years or more.
The OIG report says the bureau “mistakenly believed that the Department of Buildings should conduct fire code inspections of residential mid- and high-rise buildings.
The Inspector General, Deborah Witzburg, wrote that “has likely left some buildings uninspected for decades.”
The report concludes, “In a city scarred and shaped by fire, the efforts of the Chicago Fire Department to prevent loss of life and property damage are vital, and the annual inspections required by law are critical."
It adds, "a longstanding lack of policies, procedures, and goals has left CFD unable to accurately assess which buildings are at greatest risk for fire.”
The Fire Department has not responded to a request for comment.
Press Release:
OIG Finds Critical Shortcomings in Operations of Chicago Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Bureau,
Urges Improvements to Protect Public and First Responders
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has published an audit of the annual inspection and testing processes of the Chicago Fire Department’s (CFD) Fire Prevention Bureau (FPB). The objectives of the audit were to determine whether FPB conducts annual inspections and tests that are required to ensure compliance with the Fire Code and protect against the loss of life and property.
OIG found that FPB does not complete all annual inspections of buildings required by the Fire Code. Additionally, due to missing and inaccurate data, FPB does not have or maintain a complete and accurate inventory of buildings that require inspections. Specifically, OIG found that only 17% of buildings in FPB’s database received a required annual Fire Code inspection in a 12-month period and half of the buildings had not been inspected in five years or more. OIG also learned that FPB mistakenly believed that the Department of Buildings should conduct fire code inspections in mid- and high-rise residential buildings. Additionally, OIG found that FPB’s records were missing violation dates and disposition statuses as required by the Municipal Code of Chicago (MCC). Of annual building inspections that failed, FPB conducted a re-check inspection for 87.8% of those, albeit at a median of 5.2 months later. The City, however, collected only 13.2% of the fees owed for re-checks, leaving $1.1 million unrecovered over a ten-year period.
OIG also found that independent contractors do not annually test all water-based fire suppression systems as required by the Fire Code and that FPB’s data on systems that require annual tests is inaccurate and incomplete. In a 12-month period, independent contractors submitted annual test reports to FPB for 73.7% of premises with sprinkler systems, 79.6% of fire pumps, and 77.8% of premises with standpipes.
Regarding the lack of a complete and accurate inventory of buildings, while CFD asserts it works with other departments to help ensure accuracy, “FPB is not responsible for identifying, creating, or maintaining an inventory of existing buildings…”
“In a city scarred and shaped by fire, the efforts of the Chicago Fire Department to prevent loss of life and property damage are vital, and the annual inspections required by law are critical. A longstanding lack of policies, procedures, and goals has left CFD unable to accurately assess which buildings are at greatest risk for fire. Additionally, CFD’s mistaken belief that another City department would be responsible for fire code inspections has likely left some buildings uninspected for decades,” said Deborah Witzburg, Inspector General for the City of Chicago.
“OIG deeply admires the courage and dedication of firefighters, their commitment to public safety, and their willingness to risk their lives for others and in the service of the City. We offer this report to inform CFD’s implementation of operational improvements to keep Chicagoans—both members of the public and first responders—safer.”
OIG recommends CFD work with relevant City departments to complete and maintain an accurate inventory of all buildings subject to Fire Code inspections and tests. Additionally, OIG recommends CFD develop procedures to ensure it conducts required inspections and resulting re-check inspections, create a process for monitoring progress, and standardize the annual building inspection process and related recordkeeping.