PORTLAND, Maine - Portland's fire safety task force held its final meeting of the year today, as it works toward improving the city's fire prevention and inspection programs.
The task force was formed in the wake of last month's deadly fire on Noyes Street, which claimed the lives of six young adults. Investigators are still looking into what caused that blaze. But in the meantime, city officials are considering a range of options designed to make sure such a tragedy does not happen again.
They've only had three meetings so far, but the seven internal members of the task force are already offering early support for some changes in the way safety issues are reported and tracked.
Among the options on the table - the formation of a centralized database to deal with housing complaints. Another proposal is to create a so-called "one-stop shop," a new department to handle fire code enforcement issues.
"I think it would be very beneficial for the public to have us located in one place," said Tammy Munson, the director of the city's Inspections Division.
Currently, Munson said, members of the public often feel frustrated as they get bounced between the Permitting and the Inspections Divisions. This new entity would also include members of the fire department.
Deputy Fire Chief Keith Gautreau said staffing this department will present challenges. But he said it is a good idea, and would make life a lot simpler for the general public. "Then they could go one place to get all their questions answered," he said.
Gautreau reminded task force members what brought them together in the first place - a lethal blaze in a two-unit building. He said the focus should remain on one- and two-unit rental properties, since the inspection of these types of buildings are complaint-driven.
With more than 17,000 rental units in the city, the department cannot carry out mandatory inspections on all of them, said Gautreau, which means fire inspectors often rely on tenants to keep them informed.
All this is going to require more community outreach, particularly among Portland's large student population, many of whom live in off-campus rented housing. "Education is going to be the way we reach them, not through pro-active inspections," Gautreau said.
Another possible solution would put the onus on landlords to do their own inspections through the use of a licensed third party. Neighborhood prosecutor Rich Bianculi said this information would be put in a database," he said, "and then, if the information wasn't satisfactory, sending our folks out."
"I think all options are on the table right now. We're talking about what we can do better, what landlords can do better, what tenants can do better," says city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin.
Grondin says phase one of the task force action plan is nearing completion. By the end of the month, a list of recommendations should be on the table. Phase two, she says, starts next month and will include the task force's external members, representing landlords and tenants groups, as well as the local housing authority.
"And they'll be discussing those recommendations with them to come up with a final plan that will then go for a public hearing at the end of January or beginning of February," Grondin said. "And then it'll go to the Public Safety Committee at the beginning of February."
Grondin says that committee will decide whether to accept the task force's recommendations or whether to make any changes to them. Grondin expects the issue would then go before the full City Council.
In the meantime, city officials are encouraging Portland tenants who have any fire safety concerns to call their dedicated complaint line, which is 207-482-LIFE - or 482-5433.