Businesses to Pay Fees for Fire-Prevention Services

In a move designed to raise revenue while keeping citywide taxes down, businesses in Garden Grove will soon begin paying new fees for fire-prevention services.

Under a new plan that sets out a fee schedule for fire inspections, reviews and permits, established businesses, except for those operated from a home, will be charged $50 for annual fire safety inspections. For new businesses, a safety review to evaluate what operating permits are required will also cost $50.

The new fee goes into effect Jan. 1 and is expected to raise $308,500 annually to help pay for a fire prevention program that costs the city more than $700,000 a year.

Since the annual inspection program began in the mid-1970s, the number of non-arson related business fires has remained steady despite a jump in the total number of businesses in the city, said Bernard F. Helmos, Garden Grove’s fire marshal.

Firefighters visit businesses not only to spot fire code violations and potentially hazardous situations but to familiarize themselves with a building in which they may someday have to battle a fire or make a rescue, Helmos added.

“A good example is a fire in a motorcycle shop on Westminster Avenue recently. The business had just been inspected, and they knew there was a mezzanine there where tires were stored. Instead of trying to pick through all that, they knew they had to ventilate the roof and get some ladders up there. We got a real quick knockdown on the fire because we knew what was there,” Helmos said .

Another benefit of the annual inspections to business owners, Helmos said, is the preservation of vital records.

“We ask a business owner what we should try to save if we could only save one thing. Sometimes, we have to go into a defensive mode,” he said. “That is, if the fire gets ahead of us and we know we can’t save the building, we may still be able to save those records that the business needs to keep operating. It used to be file cabinets. Now it’s computers.”

According to Helmos, many Orange County cities charge fees for fire safety-related permits, but Garden Grove is the first to charge them for annual inspections. It’s a way for Garden Grove to balance its budget without raising general taxes, Helmos said.

“We looked at the services we provide and decided we didn’t want to charge for basic fire services. I mean, we didn’t want people to think when they were dialing 911 for a fire or to call the paramedics that they were going to get a bill,” Helmos said .

The actual cost of an inspection is calculated at $70, but “recovering the total cost . . . could represent a burden to the business community,” Helmos said.

The new fee schedule has not generated any heat from the business firms that will pay it, however.

“We met with the president of the Chamber of Commerce and once we explained it, there was no objection,” Helmos said.

Adopted along with the inspection fees were permit fees for special kinds of businesses and uses, ranging from $35 for having a candle or other open flame in an assembly area to $250 to have a Fire Department crew stand by if a fire or hazardous materials incident is feared, with additional charges per hour, per firefighter and per piece of equipment.