Lawrence commissioners to continue discussion on tougher fire codes for pet-related businesses

Lawrence firefighters respond to a fire at Pet World, 711 W. 23rd Street Monday, May 25, 2015.

Plans to strengthen the fire codes for businesses that house pets and other animals will get more discussion at City Hall, including whether the city should be more aggressive in requiring existing buildings to have fire sprinklers.

Commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting heard from Sherry Emerson, co-owner of Pet World, the Lawrence pet store that was the site of a Memorial Day weekend fire that killed an undisclosed number of animals. She told commissioners she thinks all Lawrence businesses housing animals — everything from pet stores to veterinarian offices — should be required to have fire sprinklers.

“We’re saying that money should not be the deciding factor in the protection of the health and safety of these animals,” Emerson said.

City fire code officials have not gone so far as to recommend existing buildings be required to install fire sprinkler systems. Instead, the proposed code changes would require fire sprinklers as part of new construction for pet-related businesses, if the business occupies more than 3,000 square feet. Existing pet-related businesses of more than 3,000 square feet would be required to install fire sprinklers if they undergo a significant renovation.

Commissioners stopped short of saying they would support requiring fire sprinklers for all pet-related businesses. But they also didn’t rule it out. Instead, commissioners said they wanted to make sure city staff contacts all pet-related businesses in the city to ensure they can comment on any proposed code changes.

The city’s fire marshal is proposing several code changes. In addition to the sprinkler provisions, the proposed changes include:

• Requiring existing and future pet-related businesses to install smoke alarms that are connected to a monitoring system.

• Requiring existing and future pet-related businesses to have carbon monoxide detectors if they operate any gas appliances or other devices that use an open flame.

• Requiring existing and future pet-related businesses to have fire extinguishers on their premises.

Commissioner Matthew Herbert said he also wanted to make sure commissioners use the free market system to try to produce changes at existing pet-boarding businesses. He said consumers need to be made aware of pet boarding businesses that don’t have fire sprinkler systems or other such safety devices.

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