Putting up a shop in CA - fire department being a pain
Would the *Fire Impact Fee* be the same as the *Bend Over Fee*
Mine is $400 a year. It is just a way to raise your property tax, without calling it a tax. The reason I moved to a little town 4 years ago and get away from "BIG BROTHER" cities. Now it is coming here.
No, it would not be the same, as it should be going
directly to the local fire service. It's not just a fee for the sake of a fee, it's providing you with a level of service. Obviously it's different in different states/counties/etc, but typically if a fee like that is added yearly to your property tax it went to a vote and was approved by the voters in your area. That's how it works here anyway. The fire protection fee here was recently increased, it was a measure on last years ballot with the fire district being very upfront about what it was paying for. And again, as someone that used to be a volunteer in my area, I know for a fact that the level of service now provided is leaps and bounds above what it was before. Staffing, equipment and training all cost money, better service requires more money.
I would think it would be a zoning code, not a fire code. What do they do when there is a fire in the open woods? My experience is a little different. Zoning sited me for not having a dumpster encloser, so I submitted plans for one. Problem was they also wanted a "hard" surface, plants along the driveway (200') and an irrigation system for the plants. I returned to their office and told them, I did not need a dumpster enclosure, because I would keep the dumpster inside the shop and bring it out on pickup day. A week later I was informed by the fire department, that I could not keep a dumpster in my shop, because of flammable items in it. I then told them that there was nothing in the dumpster that was not already in the shop. I got the approval!!!! Don't give in just because someone says so but do resolve the issue before you start getting fines. I once even got a zoning official fired because he had no qualifications to be one. There are lots of ways to win. Do your research.
Here it would be building and fire code. Different in different areas.
If there's a fire in the woods, we respond there. Departments that serve "open woods" should have equipment to access those areas and fight that type of fire. We do.
I have fire insurance, let them pay when it burns down. Is that why we have it? Save your water and trucks. Most shops are all metal and concrete anyway. All flammables should be kept outside. It's just another way to keep our money flowing.
Best of luck. Hopefully your insurance never finds out you're storing a dumpster inside, because I'm sure they'd not pay out over less. Flammables should be stored appropriately, "outside" is usually not that. Metal buildings still catch fire- the contents inside them usually burn just fine and the temperatures reached will ultimately destroy the structure if left unchecked.
Thank you for your service as a fireperson and EMS worker, but I only believe or agree on half what you say. Could have, should have. What if a plane crashes in the woods, lots of homes may be in danger because you can't get to the fire. As in your kitchen fire, I would think people should have a fire extinguisher on all floors of the home including the garage.
Again, if there's a plane crash in the woods then we respond there with our wildland equipment. And possibly helicopters, bulldozers and air tankers if necessary, in addition to boots on the ground. Heck the Forest Service has smoke jumpers that will parachute in if necessary. "Can't get there" isn't usually a thing for the fire service here in California.
Clearly you've been fortunate enough not to know very much about fire. I've responded to many structure fires, car fires, etc where there are multiple used, empty extinguishers on scene, used by bystanders before we got there. They're absolutely great to have (I have several of them in my house, garage, shop) but that doesn't mean they solve all problems.
I have seen small, isolated fires that the fire department destroyed the entire home, kicking in doors, breaking all the windows and cutting holes in the roofs. The water damage is worse than the fire damage. I do agree with you on sitting down with the zoning and fire personal and try to work things out.
Again, it's pretty clear you're not very well versed in modern fire fighting techniques, and I don't have the time or desire to train you to be a firefighter here on this forum. Yes, I know that firefighters aren't perfect, and I have certainly been on fires where the fire suppression efforts caused additional damage beyond what the fire caused or would have caused.
But that's why professional training (which costs money) is important. All of those techniques- kicking in the door, cutting holes in the roof, etc are used to
mitigate the spread of the fire. Done properly they should limit the spread of the fire dramatically, which means the damage caused by the technique should be more than offset by stopping the fire sooner. Breaking
all the windows, if it was done by the fire department, is a strong indication of a lack of training.
Those "small, isolated fires" may very well have stayed small BECAUSE of the things the fire department did. Again, I'm not saying that's always the case, it isn't. But if those techniques were necessary and were used properly and the fire department was successful, there was a house with a hole in the roof instead of a bare scraped slab. The latter costs more money to fix.