For the Nutter administration, last Wednesday’s ceremonial warehouse demolition on North Eighth Street was an opportunity to tout the new “proactive” partnership between the city’s Fire Department and Department of Licenses and Inspection in dealing with large, vacant and dangerous properties.
But for City Councilman Dennis O’Brien, the sentiment was more like, “What took you all so long?”
It was O’Brien’s bill, which he introduced to Council more than 15 months ago, that formulated the said partnership within the context of a comprehensive program to assess, catalogue and remedy untold numbers of idle industrial properties throughout the city. O’Brien’s legislation, which passed Council unanimously last November, was inspired by the April 9, 2012, deaths of two firefighters from the Northeast, Robert Neary and Daniel Sweeney, while responding to a five-alarm blaze in a vacant Kensington warehouse.
Nutter was initially reluctant to support O’Brien’s bill, claiming that the administration had already taken steps to manage vacant warehouses better. But the mayor ultimately signed the bill, which created a Vacant Property Task Force and included a provision for a searchable database accessible to emergency responders in real time. The program is in the midst of a six-month pilot phase. Limited to Councilman Maria Quinones-Sanchez’s 7th district for now, it will go citywide later this year.
That Nutter and his department heads, including commissioners Carlton Williams of L&I and Derrick Sawyer of the Fire Department, spent much of last Wednesday’s news media event patting themselves on the back didn’t leave much time for anyone to recognize the architect of the program.
“Fires in large vacant buildings are killers — in more ways than one,” O’Brien later told the Northeast Times. “Not only do these blazes cause more firefighter injuries and deaths than in any other property classification, they also damage nearby homes and businesses and destroy the fabric of the community. Whether the buildings are abandoned or vacant, 70 percent of the fires occurring in them are incendiary or suspicious.
“They’re targets for kids, vandals, squatters, drug users and the homeless. Large vacant buildings put firefighters at extra risk. Stripped of wiring, pipes and other components for scrap, they often contain open shafts or pits, becoming mantraps and allowing for the rapid spread of fires.”
The exact number of properties that fit that description is unknown. As part of the pilot program, inspectors have identified 62 in the 7th district, which is one of 10 Council districts citywide. A few have been identified in the small portion of the 7th that extends into the Northeast, but by and large, O’Brien figures that the dangerous properties are fewer and farther between in the Northeast.
Yet, the vacant property legislation resonates in another way on the at-large councilman’s home turf. Seventy percent of the fire department’s 1,500 active members live in the Northeast. The hope is that the new vacant property provisions will help ensure that they, too, make it home safely each day after work.
“Our firefighters have inherently dangerous jobs. When others run out to find safety, they run in to save unknown strangers,” O’Brien said. “My main objective was to reduce some of the potential risks that these structures present to them and our neighborhoods.”
In some cases, the city will move to demolish inherently dangerous sites. Other times, the city may cite irresponsible owners or take them to court.
“Public safety is the primary objective. The goal isn’t to demolish as many buildings as possible,” O’Brien said.
The Neary and Sweeney families played key roles in advocating for the new inspection and tracking measures.
“(They) stood with me on the day I introduced this legislation. I will forever cherish their support,” O’Brien said. “I’ve kept in touch with them during this process. This new approach to large, vacant properties will save lives, but it cannot bring Bob and Dan back to their families.” ••
