Fire Marshal Reaches Out to Businesses

He may look young, but Keith Reitz has years of experience under his belt to be Fire Marshal. Recently, the Chamber convened with Central Mason Fire to champion Fire & Life Safety Inspections. Fire Marshal Reitz is committed to an upfront approach to make sure the business community has the information and understanding of what they need to know and look for at the safety inspections.

There are multiple reasons fire and life safety inspections are done, some of which are:

• Protect Life – The number one priority of the fire department is always life safety and that’s no different when Fire Inspections are done. During fire inspections a lot of what they’re looking for is anything that can cause injury or limit you and your customers in case of an emergency.
• Firefighter Safety – Making sure that if there is a fire in your business, firefighters can effectively and safely enter the building to extinguish the fire.
• Protect Property – When a fire occurs in a commercial building there are multiple contributing costs. On average structure fire causes $27,647 in damages. There is also the down time for your business while you’re making repairs. Damages may even come from neighboring business from you, have a fire that spreads or causes radiant heat damage to yours.
• Fire Insurance – Your fire insurance rates are determined by numerous factors, one of which is Fire and Life Safety Inspections. The more commercial properties that are inspection annually, the better fire rating received and the lower your fire insurance costs.

A letter went out from Tegris regarding fire alarms, sprinklers, and/or hood suppression systems, this is a third-party company that Central Mason and the City of Shelton moved to insure all of these systems are current. Business owners can expect to see a reminder letter sent out 30 days before service is due. Businesses may contract with a different company for the service, although the report must be submitted to the Fire marshal.

For questions about inspections or the office of the Fire Marshal, contact Keith Reitz directly at kreitz@cmfe.org or (360) 426-5020.

Central Mason Fire & EMS was established in 1953 and serves a population of roughly 38,639 and covering 157 square miles with 11 fire stations throughout the district. Four stations are staffed full-time around the clock and one is staffed part-time Monday through Friday. Central Mason provides a wide range of emergency and non-emergency services including fire, EMS, and many other types of responses to meet citizens’ needs.