Hamilton County public schools have hundreds of fire code violations that have remained unaddressed for years, according to Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office inspection reports obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
“Some schools in the Hamilton County School district have had repeat violations,” Kevin Walters, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, said in an email. “When a school has violations, we ask school officials to submit a Plan of Corrective Action. The POCA is reviewed and approved, if acceptable. For Hamilton County Schools, we received and approved the POCAs; however, in several instances … some of the same deficiencies were found and at present, have not been corrected.”
According to state records, repeat violations for 2022 occurred in 14 school buildings. Some violations dated back to 2019.
Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson said he is meeting with the State Fire Marshal’s Office this week to present the district’s plan to address the violations.
“We’ve been struggling with fire code issues for years,” Robertson said at the Board of Education’s annual retreat Saturday. “It’s just a backlog. And for years, we just haven’t messed with it. And it just came to a head.”
(READ MORE: Hamilton County working group aims to address $1 billion school facilities ‘crisis’)
A procedure to correct fire code issues was not well-established until recently, Robertson said.
“We haven’t really had a system in place to assign work orders, to assign people to sign off and follow up,” he said in an interview, adding that will change going forward as the district creates a database to log and keep track of issues.
Robertson said violations typically fall into two categories: behavioral and maintenance.
“Behavioral issues are things like storing boxes in the hallway next to an exit, or storing stuff near a boiler or blocking a stairwell,” he said. “Those are behavioral things that as humans we’re doing that we got to get out of the habit.”
Robertson said maintenance issues can range from a latch that’s not locking properly to a door that’s not fire-rated.
“Those take money,” he said. “They take people, and they take money.”
While an exact price tag to correct the issues has not been determined, Robertson said it’ll likely cost “hundreds of thousands.”
“We’re probably going to have to identify some funding to make some of this happen faster than what’s been happening in the past,” Robertson said.
Robertson said the fire code violations reflect the district’s overall lack of facilities funding and resources.
“A lot of it is just from a resources standpoint and being in buildings that are super old,” he said. “What comes along with those are fire code issues.”
In October, Hamilton County Commissioners voted to send 100% of revenue from certain school-related tax agreements into a dedicated fund for district capital projects.
When asked if the district will use that funding to address the fire code issues, Roberston said it was up to the commissioners.
“They would have to allocate it,” he said. “But there’s really not any money in it yet.”
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.
Hamilton County schools with repeat fire code violations
Apison Elementary
Daisy Elementary
East Hamilton Middle School
East Hamilton High School
Loftis Middle School
Middle Valley Elementary
North Hamilton County Elementary
Red Bank Middle
Sale Creek Middle/High
Sequoyah High School
Soddy Daisy High School
Soddy Daisy Middle
Soddy Elementary
Thrasher Elementary