By Brian Rokos
The Press Enterprise
HEMET, Calif. — The Hemet Fire Department is cautioning business owners to watch for employees of fire-safety companies dressed like firefighters who enter shops to conduct “annual inspections” and then charge for work and materials.
Fire Chief Matt Shobert said he has received inquiries from four businesses but he suspects more will come forward.
He said these employees do not announce themselves as fire personnel but give that impression based on their dark-colored slacks and shirts with fire emblems.
“They are not associated with the Hemet Fire Department whatsoever,” Shobert said. His department conducts annual inspections for free, Shobert said.
It’s unclear whether these private inspectors are committing crimes or are simply aggressive salesmen. Police have suggested that the Fire Department attempt to limit their activity through code enforcement, Shobert said.
He said three companies — Alternative Fire Equipment, Fire Protection Safety Services and Orco Fire Protection — are operated by the same corporation and have visited Hemet businesses without having city business licenses. Shobert said some have inspected and worked on fire-safety devices such as sprinklers and extinguishers without proper training certification.
Tina Tran, owner of Envious Nails & Spa on Wentworth Drive in Hemet, said employees of Alternative Fire came in recently.
“They said they were fire service, safety service, something like that,” she said. “You just think they are with the Fire Department and they are doing their yearly inspections.”
She was billed $38.50 for the inspection, as was Chicago Pizza Co. in the same mall, according to invoices provided by Hemet Fire Prevention Officer Sonya Bu.
A former employee of Orco, Ruben Gamboa Jr., pleaded guilty to misrepresentation this year, according to a bulletin about a “fraudulent fire inspector” from the city of Stockton.
Richard Grant is an attorney for Los Angeles-based All-Purpose Fire Extinguisher Corp., the parent firm of Alternative Fire. He said Orco was once part of the company but has gone out of business, and that someone else owns Fire Protection. Grant also said All-Purpose employees are not — or should not be — misrepresenting themselves.
“The people who do these kinds of services are not Harvard graduates,” he said. “Some of them are … like Ruben. When my guys at All-Purpose find out about this stuff, they get furious. They tell them, you don’t go out there and tell them you are with the fire department.”
Shobert also raised concern about other companies that make fire safety presentations to seniors and then install detectors, extinguishers and other devices without providing estimates in advance, and then surprise the residents with bills for around $1,800.
Shobert said people should ask for a business card and business and contractors licenses. Anyone with questions should call the Fire Department at 951-765-2450.
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