Asst. Fire Marshal changes smoke detector law

Thirteen years ago, James Bennett witnessed the first fatality of his firefighting career when he had to carry a 12-year-old girl out of a house fire in Connersville, Ind. Ten years later, a young man died in another fire, the second death of Bennett’s career.
Both tragedies might have been prevented had there simply been smoke detectors in the homes where those fires broke out.

“Both those properties had the same landlord,” Bennett said. “No working smoke detectors were found in either properties.”

At the time of that second fatality, the landlord faced a $25 fine and a Class D infraction under state law. With lives at stake, Bennett, who was then chief of the Connersville Fire Department, found the penalty inadequate.

Benett went to the local prosecutor, certain there must be some other way to punish the landlords’ negligence and prevent similar tragedies.

“I was told there was nothing I could do,” Bennett recalled. “Except to change the law.”

So he did. Effective July 1, a new statewide smoke detector law now requires tenants to sign a Smoke Detector Compliance Form upon moving in, stating that they have checked their smoke detector and that it is working.

The new law also holds both tenants and landlords responsible for maintaining smoke detectors. Tenants are expected to replace the batteries for battery-operated smoke detectors and report malfunctioning hard-wired smoke detectors to their landlords. 

If a landlord fails to respond within seven days to a tenant’s written request to fix or replace a malfunctioning smoke detector, it would warrant a Class B infraction and a fine up to $1,000. If the landlord commits a subsequent offense, it would be a Class A infraction with a fine of up to $10,000. These fines are significantly higher than the previously existing $25 fine and Class D infraction.

In 2007, Bennett worked with Indiana Senator Robert Jackman and the Indiana Apartments Association to construct and introduce the bill. It was defeated in the Senate the first time around, but it passed earlier this year after amendments, and was signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels in March.

In the meantime, Bennett retired from the Connersville force in 2007 and was named Fire Chief of the Year by the Indiana Fire Chiefs Association. Then in 2008, he was hired as the new assistant state fire marshal.

Except for the extra piece of paperwork required of new tenants, the law will not change much for Bloomington landlords, because the city already has rules and guidelines. But it could nonetheless have significance for rental companies throughout the state of Indiana. 

“I don’t really think it’s going to affect anything (in Bloomington) because the current codes and guidelines are set out by the city of Bloomington,” said Suzanne O’Connell, properties manager at Pavilion Properties.

Lynne Sullivan, executive director of the Indiana Apartment Association, agreed that the new law’s impact on most rental companies is probably minimal, but she said it is still a positive change that accomplishes two main things.

“It helps put the tenant on notice, as well as the landlord, that smoke detectors are in working order, that’s the first thing,” Sullivan said. “The second thing it does, is it ensures that residents realize that they are responsible for maintaining the batteries and not disabling their smoke detectors.”

O’Connell said it concerns her that some tenants intentionally tamper with their smoke detectors. Pavilion Properties inspects smoke detectors periodically as part of both walk-through inspections with tenants and routine maintenance, which is how they discover that tenants have deliberately crippled their devices. 

“Often, we find that the current resident has disabled their smoke detectors,” O’Connell said. “Sometimes, during routine maintenance, we’ll find missing batteries or missing smoke detectors.” 

In such cases, O’Connell said the landlord cannot do much except “remedy the situation” and restore the smoke detector to working order. “It has to come down to common sense,” she said.

Residential fires in the United States claim about 3,000 lives every year, and two-thirds of those occur in homes without working smoke detectors, according to FireSafety.gov.

“A smoke detector is a fairly cheap price to pay to keep one’s family and home safe,” said Bloomington Fire Chief Roger Kerr.  “It can do more to save your life than the fire department can after the fact.”

Kerr recommended that if a smoke detector beeps relentlessly, one should not hesitate to pay a few bucks for a couple of 9-volt batteries and take a minute to replace them.

“I strongly encourage people to maintain their smoke detectors,” Kerr said. “They are an invaluable tool to protect yourself and your loved ones. And surely anyone will agree that a life is worth the $9.99 that it takes to replace a battery.”