Dan Thrift / Tahoe Daily Tribune A barbeque grill sits at an apartment complex near Sonora and Birch avenues. The outdoor cooking devices are subjected to fire-safety regulations around the lake.
Kyle Magin Bonanza Staff Writer March 21, 2008 PrintEmail Barbecue grills were a hot issue at Wednesday's North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Board of Directors meeting, and the fire district agreed to revisit the ordinance.
At February's board meeting Fire Marshal Tom Smith said the district would educate citizens on a long-standing ordinance against having barbecues on the decks of multiple-family dwellings.
The ordinance, a part of the International Fire Code which has been on the books as early as 1991, drew the ire of Incline Village/Crystal Bay citizens, who caught the ears of board members.
Board Chairman Wayne Fischer, along with other board members, said citizens have contacted them with concerns over the ordinance.
Debbie Moore, a resident at the Tahoe Racquet Club condominiums on the 900 block of Tahoe Blvd. expressed her dislike of the ordinance in the meeting's public comment section.
"I think this could have direct and indirect consequences on insurance and property values ... It's a terrible ordinance and I hope you will discuss it and let us have our barbecues back," Moore said.
Smith said he would look into the ordinance to see if any adjustments could be made, but said it wouldn't happen overnight.
"Our next step is looking at what we can do about the ordinance," Smith said. "The elephant is in the room, but we have to be sure to address the safety. That is the underlying concern."
The board decided to talk about the barbecue ordinance during its Wednesday, April 16, meeting. Smith said he hopes to provide some solutions at that meeting once he consults with the international fire code, and said a solution may be approved in a matter of months.
The board also approved, pending legal review, a cooperative agreement with the Nevada State Fire Marshal's office. The agreement allows for district employees to assist the currently short-staffed state fire marshal with building plan checks on both commercial and residential structures.
"They have a backlog in plan checks right now and it's flattering that they came to us to help them out in the next few months," said Fire Chief Mike Brown.
He explained the hiring process at the state office is long and until they are re-staffed they will rely on help from the NLTFPD to complete the checks.
The tentative plan for the district's aid is that Assistant Fire Marshal Pete Mulvihill will spend one day a week working for the office and his hours will be billed to the state fire marshal's office.
"I'll go down there and assist in the plan checks for about eight hours each Monday (a day Mulvihill already has off), so it won't have any adverse effect on our workload or service in Incline," Mulvihill said.
The board also attended to two financial issues. First, it accepted a bid for the district's annual audit from accounting firm Kafoury Armstrong.
District Business manager Sharon Cary said the bid could cost as much as $52,000, up from $36,000 last year. She said she originally bid out the audit contract to Kafoury Armstrong for $37,800, but due to new federal risk assessment statutes there could be an extra $9,000 to $15,000 tacked onto the bid.
The board approved the bid pending legal review and said it was contingent on the bid not exceeding $52,000.
Also, the board approved the finalization of purchasing bonds for the four wildland hand crew transports it ordered. The bonds are worth $500,000 in total and will be paid back over 10 years at an interest rate of 3.75 percent.
Tahoe-Douglas has
similar ordinance in place
Similar rules are in place in the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, which serves the area of Douglas County at Lake Tahoe, including upper Kingsbury Grade.
Charcoal-burning barbecues and other open-flame cooking devices are prohibited on combustible balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction at multifamily complexes of more than two units.
The prohibition also applies to natural-gas barbecues, said Tahoe Douglas Assistant Fire Marshal Mark Novak. An exception is made if the building is equipped with a sprinkler system that extends to balconies.
Propane barbecues are allowed if they use the smaller-style tanks, which Novak described as smaller than a football and used for camping.
South Lake Tahoe bans open burning
South Lake Tahoe doesn't have specific rules regarding barbecues.
The section of the International Fire Code pertaining to open-flame cooking devices was not adopted into the California fire code and hence was not included in the local regulations, said South Lake Tahoe Fire Marshal Ray Zachau.
Within city limits, open fires are prohibited except for cooking, Zachau said.
The prohibition applies to burning leaves or other rubbish, and to the popular practice of building a backyard fire to keep warm during an outdoor party.
In fact, it's not unheard of for the hosts of an outdoor party to pull out a package of hot dogs and start cooking when authorities respond to the otherwise illegal fire, Zachau said.
Even though the city lacks a barbecue prohibition, firefighters still are able to "order any (fire) hazard abated or discontinued," Zachau said. "That's what we do on a case-by-case basis."
The department receives a number of calls from residents whose downstairs neighbors are barbecuing and are bothered by the smoke wafting up.
"It's one of our more common complaints," Zachau said.
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