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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesFIRE OFFICIALS TO CHECK OUT CROWD CAPACITIES

FIRE OFFICIALS TO CHECK OUT CROWD CAPACITIES

In February, St. John food handlers and restaurateurs had their day in the public eye. Come March, the operators of establishments where groups of people congregate indoors will be under scrutiny.
Brian Chapman, deputy chief of V.I. Fire Services for St. John, says he and a fire safety supervisor will be paying calls on such businesses in the first two weeks of March to assess their "occupancy load" capacities. Again restaurants and bars, but also nightclubs and other performance venues will be included in the site visits, he said.
Laws are on the books governing the "capacity crowd" allowed into a given space at a given time, Chapman said, but they haven't been enforced anytime lately. "It needs to be done," he said. "St. John's growing like crazy. Many places used to be outdoors; now, everybody's enclosing and going to air conditioning. There are even rumors of a cinema."
The space required for "dancehall-type businesses" is seven square feet per person, he said, and that for restaurant-type businesses is 15 square feet per person. But he said he will be looking at the number and type of exits, as well as the floor size of the facilities. "Exits here have been a problem," he said.
While the ability of people to exit a facility in case of fire, smoke and other emergency conditions is a concern, he said, so, too, are volatile situations in which people pose the threat — "such as if some guy shows up at a dance and gets into a fight over a girl or pulls a weapon."
He said the space ratios are approximations and it is up to owners and operators of establishments to make their own assessments "until we determine the exact amount." Once that is done, he added, the maximum number of persons to be allowed inside at a time will be posted in public view on the premises and will be subject to enforcement by Fire Services and/or Police Department authorities.
Restricting the size of crowds indoors is a fundamental requirement of the National Fire Protection Association "that has always been effect, but not enforced as it should have been," Chapman noted. He said the coming inspections are a St. John initiative and are not linked to the unannounced site visits at six St. John food-service establishments on Feb. 4 by Health Department inspectors from St. Thomas.
As a result of those visits, five of the businesses were shut down on a Friday afternoon and could not reopen until they were reinspected the following Monday, thus losing a weekend's business at the height of the tourist season. In the following week, the Myrah Keating-Smith Clinic was inundated with applications for 163 food-handler permits.
Since he's announcing the fire safety visits in advance, Chapman doesn't anticipate any resistance. "Anyone who needs more information, please feel free to contact me at the station," he said. The telephone number is 776-6333.

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