Old pipe chokes westside business

With residents and businesses in Napa still reeling after the August earthquake, preparing for the next “big one” is still on the minds of many Petalumans.|

With residents and businesses in Napa still reeling after the August earthquake, preparing for the next “big one” is still on the minds of many Petalumans.

For business owners along Petaluma Boulevard North, that preparation may soon involve upgrades in fire safety with the installation of fire prevention sprinkler systems.

“Many of those buildings were built in the early 1900s, so they were not required to have sprinklers,” said Fire Chief Larry Anderson. “If they were being built today, the state and local fire code would require them to be sprinklered.”

The majority of Petaluma’s oldest water mains, some dating back more than a century, are situated beneath the city’s equally historic structures. Beyond being subject to breakage during an earthquake, the small, aging pipes don’t allow enough water flow for fire sprinklers. On Petaluma Boulevard, a 4-inch cast iron water main, which is estimated to be up to 100 years old, is preventing area businesses from tapping into the water supply to install fire sprinklers. The predicament also stunts new business growth, because shops coming in with more than 50 employees are required by law to have sprinklers.

“We’ve had some businesses coming in that wanted to open up, and we had to have them work with the economic developer to find real estate in an area that might be better suited to their business because of their size,” Anderson said.

But the need for sprinklers goes beyond having to turn down potential tenants. Numerous downtown fires, including a 2002 blaze on Kentucky Street, two fires in 2006 and a fire along Petaluma Boulevard South in 2008, have challenged local firefighters and impacted surrounding businesses. None of the buildings involved had sprinklers installed at the time of the fires, according to officials.

Fire Marshal Cary Fergus said the 2002 Kentucky Street fire was especially devastating, because the multiple businesses that were destroyed were never able to reopen. Between the initial damage and the street closures needed for construction, Fergus said the fire’s impact “depressed business in the area.”

“Almost every time when a significant fire occurs, that business has great difficulty coming back and usually is unable to do that,” Fergus said.

In 2004, city officials addressed the lack of fire safety in historic downtown structures by adopting a sprinkler ordinance into the city’s fire code. Anderson said the sprinkler initiative, launched by former fire chief and current City Councilmember Chris Albertson, was aimed at making buildings and firefighting safer downtown.

Buildings along Kentucky Street were chosen for the first wave of sprinkler installations, as the city had recently replaced the street’s antiquated water main with new PVC piping. City workers also laid out lateral pipes to each building to allow for easy sprinkler installation. Kentucky Street structures with basements were given until December 2010 to install sprinkler systems, and others have until December 2016 to comply.But Petaluma Boulevard North’s inadequate 4-inch water main, which runs between Kent Street and B Street, isn’t scheduled to be replaced until fiscal year 2016-17. In the meantime, businesses will have to wait for access to sprinkler systems.Eventually, Petaluma Boulevard’s cast iron pipe will be substituted with 12-inch PVC pipe, which Anderson said will better withstand earthquake stress. The $4.8 million project, which is expected to take about two years to complete, is part of the city’s five-year $28 million capital improvement plan. Water and sewer maintenance included in that program is funded entirely by monthly utility bills. Boulevard buildings will then have similar deadlines to install sprinklers as Kentucky Street businesses did - six years for buildings with basements and 12 years for those without.

Once downtown businesses have sprinklers, Anderson said fire safety will improve drastically.

“If a major fire got started today, it would be very difficult to fight,” Anderson said. “There’s a huge potential that you could lose a lot of downtown under bad circumstances. So once the sprinklerization is fully implemented throughout that district, it’s going to be a huge benefit to the economic viability of the city because if those businesses do have a fire, they will be able to return to business sooner than they otherwise would have.”

And the ability to install sprinklers would also bring new business to the boulevard, such as larger restaurants that can employ more than 50 people.

“It does offer more opportunities for different kinds of businesses,” Fergus said. “We’re trying to get (the sprinklers) in so we can have more diversity downtown.”

(Contact Allison Jarrell at allison.jarrell@argus courier.com)

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