Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Missed checks lead to department shake-up
By DUANE D. STANFORD and LAURA DIAMOND
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)
Gwinnett County fire officials failed to complete routine fire inspections at 30 schools during the past five years, county officials revealed Thursday.
The Gwinnett fire marshal resigned and a fire inspector retired last week because of the missed fire checks at 24 Gwinnett County public schools, one Buford city school and five private schools. The inspector’s supervisor is on paid leave.
Officials also said the forced resignation of Fire Chief Jack McElfish last week was due in part to the problem at the fire marshal’s office.
Parent Stephanie Kratofil has children in North Gwinnett High and Suwanee Elementary, two of the schools that hadn’t been inspected.
“This is very scary,” Kratofil said. “I never thought this was something I would have to worry about as a parent. Why wouldn’t they inspect these schools? Why weren’t they doing their jobs?”
State law requires the county to inspect schools for broken fire extinguishers, blocked exits and other hazards, but the law doesn’t say how often the checks must be done. Gwinnett officials said county policy requires annual inspections.
County officials said Thursday they discovered that some schools were missing inspections for one or two years; a dozen schools hadn’t been inspected since 2000. They did not say which schools were on which list.
“We violated something, and it’s serious,” Deputy County Administrator Mike Comer said. “We didn’t live up to our commitment.”
Since learning of the situation Jan. 10, Gwinnett fire officials have inspected all the schools that had missed inspections. None of those checks turned up state fire-code violations, acting Gwinnett Fire Chief Steve Rolader said.
Gwinnett public school system spokeswoman Sloan Roach said Thursday that routine, voluntary fire checks by school system employees should have caught any unsafe conditions.
“Safety in Gwinnett schools has not been compromised,” Roach said.
Roach said the school system has its own policies to make sure buildings are safe for students and staff. Gwinnett’s schools hold regular fire drills and test fire extinguishers, she said.
Kratofil said she knows the schools conduct regular fire drills. Although school officials may monitor the buildings and work to keep them up to code, she said they may not know everything that needs to be done.
“I’m glad someone caught this problem, but imagine what could have happened,” Kratofil said. “Some of these schools are so overcrowded. It could have been so dangerous. Imagine if there was a fire and there had been a catastrophe because an exit was blocked. This just scares me.”
Comer said he discovered the inspections were missing after the fire marshal’s office had trouble complying with an Atlanta television station’s open records request for the records late last year.
Comer said Inspector Bruce Caldwell and Fire Marshal Tim Eckenwiler couldn’t account for the missing reports. Later the men were unable to say why the inspections hadn’t been completed, but Eckenwiler “took full responsibility for the oversight,” Comer said.
“It became apparent you had a specific set of problems with a specific set of people,” Comer said.
Caldwell, a 28-year employee who made nearly $58,000 a year, was allowed to retire last Friday. Eckenwiler, who made about $79,000 a year, resigned from the job he had held since 2001. Eckenwiler came to Gwinnett in 1996 as an inspector.
Rolader said he has found no evidence that required inspections of other buildings, such as day care centers, were not done, but the investigation is not complete.
Rolader said other inspectors in the 24-person marshal’s office had records that were “flawless.”
Altogether, 78 Gwinnett public schools, three Buford city schools and one private school were up-to-date on fire inspections, he said.