Patrick Menihan’s attention was drawn away from the TV. He thought he smelled something burning. No big deal he thought. Someone is probably just cooking a pizza downstairs. His attention returned to the TV. Then the stench of smoke intensified. He opened his bedroom door to see a cloud of smoke rising up the staircase. He ran down the stairs and saw one of his roommates dumping water on a small fire in the oven.
Luckily the house did not catch on fire that day. However, in the event of a fire Menihan did not have the proper means of evacuation at his disposal.
His room was one of two rooms in the attic at 1122 Ohio St. He lived in the house from August 2006 until July 2007. Both rooms failed to meet current fire codes in Lawrence, which state that any third floor or higher bedroom must have at least two exits. In this case no such exit existed.
“I never realized how unsafe I was living in that attic, fortunately the worst thing that happened was a close call,” Menihan said.
Landlords renting out unsafe rooms and renters not realizing the lack of safety has become a common occurrence in Lawrence. Rich Barr, Lawrence Fire Marshal, said he is sure landlords rent out many houses, especially older houses in and around the Oread neighborhood, that do not meet fire codes.
“I know there are a number of them [houses that do not meet fire code] out there. Some landlords are great, but some try and fly under the radar until they get caught,” Barr said.
Finding the houses with unsafe rooms and forcing the landlords to make the necessary adjustments is the challenge for Barr.
Right now no mechanism exists for finding the unsafe houses. The fire marshal only has jurisdiction over multifamily dwellings, but the only way Barr can find out whether or not a house is a multifamily dwelling is by talking to the residents.
“Obviously if we see multiple names on the mail boxes than we know it’s a multifamily house, but we are not going to sit out on the street and watch people going in and out of houses,” Barr said.
Barr suggests that renters need to be responsible for notifying his office if they suspect that their house might not meet fire codes because he does not have the right to barge in and start snooping around unless the tenants invite him.
“Landlords do not want us to find out because it could be expensive for them, so we need to hear from the tenants,” he said.
Elizabeth Grosspietsch, Barrington, Ill., senior, currently lives in one of the rooms in the attic at 1122 Ohio St. She took the initiative and called the fire marshal’s office.
“My mom heard I was living in an attic and she asked me if there was a fire escape. When I said no she flipped out and told me that was not right,” Grosspietsch said.
Grosspietsch arranged for Barr to inspect her living situation right away. After his inspection he found that the two rooms in the attic did not meet fire code.
Barr said he contacted the house’s owner Serina Hearn and informed her that she needed to build a fire escape immediately.
Hearn, who was not available for comment, owns Rainbow Works, LLC and rents out more than 25 houses to hundreds of students at KU. She moved immediately on the fire escape project. Her crew erected a fire escape within a couple of weeks according to Grosspietsch.
“Our landlord was not reluctant at all; she finished the job really fast. I was just annoyed that we had to call the fire marshal in the first place. When I am paying a lot of money to live somewhere I expect that it’s a safe place,” Grosspietsch said.
Rainbows Works constructed the fire escape at 1122 Ohio St. out of wood, but Barr said the code allows wood as long as it meets certain guidelines.
“Metal is ideal for fire escapes, but wood is permitted as long as it is treated lumber or cedar because those types of wood are not prone to rotting,” he said.
Barr said that any person who lives in a multi-storey house should have their attic and basement checked out to make sure it meets fire codes. Basements can be problematic in older houses because they tend to have small windows that do not make for an easy exit.
“The situation we want to avoid is to have anyone trapped in a basement or on a roof where we can’t get to them in an emergency,” he said. “If people let us know than we can put houses on our radar screen and make the landlords accountable.”
After an inspection the fire marshal notifies the landlord. If improvements need to be made the landlords are granted what Barr referred to as a “reasonable amount of time” to make the necessary adjustments. If landlords do not comply then unsafe rooms are not allowed to be rented out.
Concerning the future, Rich Barr wants to find better ways to keep an eye on landlords and the houses they rent out. He said he is trying to get multiple groups together in order to notify him about potential problem houses.
“We are trying to get a handle on it, but we need groups to come together,” Barr said.
Elizabeth Grosspietsch said she sleeps much easier at night knowing she can escape safely in an emergency, but she knows not everyone can say the same thing.
“I encourage anyone who lives in an old house around campus to call the fire marshal. Fires are rare, but I would rather be safe than sorry,” she said.