Fire Marshals

Many fire marshals doing building and residential inspections and code enforcement have been reasonable and fair to deal with, while enforcing existing municipal fire codes.

I worked with a master electrician at the hotel earlier this year. He was telling me about some real jerks, fire marshals, that he has encountered while wiring buildings. He referred to them as arrogant, unbending and nit picky, without a lick of give or common sense. They can and will shut down a project or evacuate a building if 100% to what they want done, when they want it done is not forthcoming right now.

The electrician described to me that a friend of his, a fire fighter and likely a fire marshal, has attended many of the fire marshal annual conventions for the state of Minnesota.

His friend joked that, when, forty of these prima donnas, all laws unto themselves in their respective jurisdictions, meet and fight like cats and dogs over how to interpret the standing code, how to enforce it and how to update it, nothing is accomplished. The word describing them was that they were all gods, and knew everything. When these prima donnas met, bickering and arguing ensured, and they could never agree on anything.

We need fire code inspections and enforcement, but we need fire marshals that are reasonable and not nit picky and unbending. Government employees need to maintain standards, need to promote health and safety, without unduly burdening businesses and home owners with huge expenses and onerous work corrections.