BY SUSAN VOYLES – RGJ.COM – MAY 3, 2008

One month after Reno firefighters dropped their court fight over building inspections, they began this week making their first walk-through inspections of residential buildings without sprinkler systems.

Reno Fire Chief Paul Wagner told the City Council on Friday that the department plans to inspect 800 buildings over the next five months, starting with boarding houses and weekly hotels. The department will then expand the list.

The inspection program is the result of a yearlong council review with the chief after an October 2006 fire killed 12 at the residential Mizpah Hotel in downtown Reno, the deadliest fire in the city’s history.

Because of the high cost, owners of residential hotels and boarding houses that provide housing to the poor have said they’d be forced to close if they had to retrofit their buildings with sprinklers.

Buildings that are less than 55 feet tall, or five stories, and are less than 10,000 square feet do not have to be retrofitted under state law that took effect in 1981. That law was enacted after the disastrous 1980 MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas.

As they make their inspections, firefighters will check buildings within their districts and discuss any minor infractions with the owners. Fire inspectors would be called to handle any major fire code violations.

Crews for each fire truck in the city will initially be required to do two inspects per month.

Local 731 of the International Association of Fire Fighters had filed a lawsuit in Washoe County District Court to block the program. It contended Reno’s fire chief should have negotiated the issue with the union in a oversight committee.

The union withdrew its lawsuit on March 28 after District Judge Janet Berry heard several hours of testimony the day before and said she was considering sending the dispute to an arbitrator to resolve.

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