Explosion prompts decision to hire more fire inspectors

Adrienne Packer

Friday, March 29, 2002 | 8:52 a.m.

A five-year gap between inspections at the AeroTech plant destroyed by fire in October prompted Clark County Manager Thom Reilly to request money to hire four additional fire inspectors.

Reilly is expected to ask Clark County commissioners Tuesday to budget $251,128 next fiscal year to pay the salaries and provide benefits for the inspectors.

State Fire Marshal Doyle Sutton was commissioned in February to review the handling of AeroTech -- a model rocket engine plant -- before, during and after the blaze. The fire killed one employee.

Sutton's office is in the middle of its investigation, but Reilly said one factor that could have played a role was the lack of fire personnel available to routinely inspect high-risk plants.

County fire inspectors visited the AeroTech plant on Palm Street just off Boulder Highway 10 times between 1988 and 1985, but then did not return until 2000, according to a Fire Department report.

"When I got the report and determined we had lapses in our inspections, it was a concern," Reilly said.

The four new inspectors hired by the county will be required to go through a one-year hazardous materials training program.

While the inspectors are being trained, Reilly said current fire inspectors will be assigned to high-risk properties. The county will hire about eight full-time, but temporary, firefighters with inspecting experience to take on the lower-risk companies, Reilly said. When the inspectors are prepared for full-time duty, the temporary firefighters will be excused.

According to a Fire Department report, 30 high-risk, Category 1 companies such as AeroTech exist in the county. There are about 780 Category 2 companies and 1,830 lower-risk Category 3 companies, the report says.

Fire Chief Earl Greene, whose budget requests for additional personnel have not been fully met in each the past several years, said Thursday he is "ecstatic" about Reilly's proposal.

"The people in fire prevention will be excited about it also; they have a tremendous workload," Greene said. "This will assist us in providing better services."

Greene said that before he received four new inspectors last year, his department had the same number of inspectors it had during the 1988 explosion at the Pacific Engineering & Production Co. plant in Henderson.

That explosion, which registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale, killed two people.

"To have eight new bodies in less than a year is tremendous for us," Greene said.

In addition to the new inspectors, the county has assembled a task force to evaluate whether other plants pose the same threat as AeroTech.

The task force, led by Commissioner Myrna Williams, is also looking at whether building, fire, zoning and business licensing codes can be amended to prevent another disaster.com