University Daily Kansan
Thursday. October 27.1977
5
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Fire occupancy standards limited to newer bars
By KATHY PEBLEY
Staff Writer
While Lawrence's new bers have strict occupancy limits to reduce fire hazards, older bers can serve as many customers as possible. The fire department receives a complaint.
The Lawrence fire department has never received a complaint, L. Larry Stemmerman, fire prevention officer said this week. If it did, the department has the authority to stop admitting people to the bar or to order people to leave.
Occupancy limits are placed on new bars to ensure swift and safe extinction in case of fire.
The Lawrence fire department found the newer bars to be within their occupancy limits in a surprise inspection last Saturday night.
The fire department makes periodic inspections of all bars to make sure they are reasonably safe from fire hazards in addition to an annual check on all bars,
To get a license to open a bar, the bar owner must have his building inspected by a fire chief. The inspector checks for fire hazards, including faulty wiring, cluttered storage areas and illegal use of extension cord outlets, also known as fire heaters, handy fire extinguishers, at least two exits, labelled main power switches, and lighted exit signs.
OLDER BARS must meet the same fire safety standards as a bar applying for a
OCCUPANCY LIMITS are assigned to places of assembly, according to the Life Safety Code manual, which is used by the Lawrence fire department. Bars that do not have room to serve more than 100 customers should be placed areas of assembly by the manual.
Only bars that have been built or established in the last three or four years have strict occupancy limits, Stemmerman said. The older bars do not have limits placed upon them by the fire department, but Stemmerman said fire fighters would act on complaints about overcrowding in any bar.
According to the code, the occupancy load permitted in any bar is determined by dividing the net floor area by seven square feet per person for dance floor space, three square feet per person for standing space around a bar, 15 square feet per person for the rest of the room in the building and the number of fixed seats.
Stemmerman said he initiated the practice of placing strict occupancy limits on new bars as they established themselves in Lawrence.
LT. HAROLD MALLONEE, fire
HAROOLD MALLONEE, occupancy
were a relatively new
relationship.
"We have to make bar owners aware of what we are doing by giving them warnings," he said. "I hope it won a long until occupancy limits on the older bars too."
Stemmerman said there were no immediate plans to put occupancy limits on Lawrence's older bars because the fire department had with other fire safety inspection projects.
"We have plans to inspect all-off-campus student houses in the near future," he said, "and we will be there."
The off-campus inspections are a continuation of the fire department's oncampus housing inspection project that began last year.
MALLONEE SAID that when the fire department checks one of the bars without an occupancy limit, it is up to the inspector to decide whether the bar is overcrowded.
"If the inspector thinks there are many people to safely exit in case of a fire, or if he has received complaints," Malloreau says. "Everyone should stop admitting customers a clear plea out."
"I don't worry about people getting trapped by fire in the Hawk," Wallace said. "There are four exits. People could even break windows to escape."
"We have stopped places from selling tickets in the middle of shows," he said.
Stemmerman would not say which establishments had violated the occupancy load laws because they are now in compliance.
The Jayhawk Cafe is a brick building with stucco overlay and asbestos tile. Wallace said the brick floor would stop a fire that started in the basement. Fire extinguishers behind each bar and in the stairwell to the basement also reduced risk, he said.
KEN WALACE, owner of the Jayhawk
employees he trained new
employees in life process.
"I try to add a new fire safety feature every year because it is cheaper for me to add them gradually," Wallace said. "The team I'd like to do in install emergency lighting."
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THE HAWK BUILDING is at least 35 years old, according to Wallace, and the fire department has not set an occupancy limit for it.
Wallace said his main concern that a fire would break out during the night after the bar was closed, like the one that burned the Yuk Clubs in July 1976.
"If either the Hawk or the Wheel burned down they couldn't be rebuilt because of city codes that prohibit the building of bars in that area." Wallace said.
The Wagon Wheel Cafe, 507 W. 14 St., usually has 150 to 200 customers inside after a football game, according to John Bush, an employee. The Wheel, also without an occupancy limit, has two exits and two fire extinguishers.
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ACE JOHNSON, owner of the Stables,
1401 W. 7th, st. He also worried more
Monday, Oct. 31
James Whale:
WE'VE DONE ALL of our remodeling in compliance with fire safety codes," Johnson said. "There's only a little electrical wiring left that hasn't been replaced. We've put almost $200,000 in remodeling, often going beyond the fire safety requirements."
The Stables has no occupancy limit.
Brian Whitaker, manager of the Chute,
944 Massachusetts St., said that on a busy night the bar could have up to 250 customers. He has not set an occupancy load for the Chute.
Stemmerman said that any building could become a trap for people trying to escape from a fire, and that the size of the building did not matter.
Johnson said that over the past 12 years most of the Stables had been rebuilt and that over the past six years all the plumbing had been replaced.
"The bar is well-lighted and it isn't cluttered with chairs and tables," Whitaker said. "The Chute has two exits and one fire extinguisher."
about his bar burning in the early morning hours because he was there than while the crowd was crowded.
"We could never have a catastrophe like the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire," Johnson said. "It would be a freak accident to have people trapped in any Lawrence bar. The main reason is that none of the bars here have been near the capacity of the Beverly Hills Club."
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According to Whitaker, the owners of the Chute were not permitted to install swinging doors at the front entrance or as many corral pens as they wanted because the fire
THE NEWORER BARS, which have strict rules about customer customers as they enter. Hernman said and
department said they would be hazardous if a quick exit was necessary.
Shenanigans, 901 Mississippi St., has an occupancy limit of 500 people, and Bollwinkle's, 804 W. 24th St., has a limit of 240. he said.
John Sheppard, the manager of Shenanigan's said that the bar had a fire extinguisher within 10 yards of each exit, one in the storage area and one behind each bar.
The Corral Club, 212. W 59 St., has an occupancy load of 300; J. Watson's in the Hilleress Shopping Center has a limit of 600 and the Seventh Street in Massachusetts has a limit of 780. Nerupova 406-622-6860.
All of these bars were found to be within their occupancy limits during last Saturday.
MALLONEE SAID that bars, like all buildings, were not completely safe from fire no matter how many precautions were taken.
"We never know from one night to the next whether conditions are at their safest," he said.
locked, an obstruction could be left in an aisle or hallway."
with a bar fire involving hundreds of customers," Stemmerman said. "Our firefighting response is quick, but even with the precautions we take and the checking we do, a fire in a bar full of people is entirely possible."
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