By Matt Brezius – Pottstown Mercury

It has been nearly four weeks since the massive blaze that ripped through the Riverwalk at Millennium apartment complex in Conshohocken, but the catastrophic fire is still making news.

Three lawsuits have been filed in Montgomery County Court as some continue to place blame despite the incident being ruled accidental.

Now, insurance companies are climbing on board as four major providers that insured tenants’ property and/or vehicles have filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for damages they and their clients sustained due to the blaze.

With the recent talk that someone should be held responsible, The Times Herald, which is owned by the Journal Register Company and is a sister paper to The Mercury, took a look back into the process of how Riverwalk developed by sifting through building permits, zoning records and building codes.

A question most often asked by the public is why there were not any sprinkler systems or firewalls in the attics of the apartment buildings, the area where the fire spread so quickly.

The answer: Because the law does not require them. The apartment complex was built under the National Fire Protection Association’s code of 13-Residential, meaning it would be a residential building allowing up to and including four floors.

According to NFPA 13-R, sprinklers shall not be required in attics, penthouse equipment rooms, elevator machine rooms, concealed spaces dedicated exclusively to and containing only dwelling unit ventilation equipment, crawl spaces, floor/ceiling spaces, elevator shafts and other concealed spaces that are not used or intended for living purposes or storage and do not contain fuel-fired equipment.

David Smith, an information specialist with the Department of Labor and Industry, said that in order to build under NFPA 13-R, additional firewalls had to be installed within the buildings, but were not required in any specific area.

“They weren’t forced to put the firewalls in one area instead of another, no. Under the Fire and Panic Act, they did have to put draft stoppers in the attics, but were not required to put firewalls there,” Smith said. “According to the paperwork, it seems like everything was done exactly to code.”

The complex was also given the green light by several inspection companies, including Phiscon Enterprises Inc., which reviews the fire protection sprinkler drawings and plans. According to an inspection report dated May 5, 2004, Phiscon Enterprises Inc. stated the sprinkler system criterion in place was correct based on NFPA 13-R.

Another question that has been circulating is why Riverwalk wasn’t held to federal building standards after receiving a $2 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

John F. Nugent, the executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of Montgomery County, said none of that federal money was ever accepted because the original proposal to which the money was granted had been changed.

“This project was originally proposed to be an office building with a parking garage, but O’Neill Properties elected not to move forward with it, so the funds were never formally accepted because they changed the use of the land,” Nugent said. “To my knowledge, no state or federal money was put toward this project.”

The NFPA said the code is designed to save lives, not buildings, and that attic fires generally aren’t life-threatening, which is why sprinklers are not required. Some community members are voicing concerns that this may not have been the best philosophy.

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