Spotlight Ted

Dang, a long-time property owner and investor, owns several apartment buildings throughout the East Bay. He recently encountered a situation involving an older, nice apartment building that sits right on Lake Merritt in Oakland. The eight-unit complex, which was built in the 1950s, operates smoothly. However, after the Ghostship fire, the City of Oakland and Oakland Fire Department began beefing up inspections and wanted Dang to make additional improvements.

The Fire Department had some concerns about fire safety related to lack of a central fire alarm system and having fire strobes and horns in every unit. Dang agreed with the suggested updates, as he lost a house during the Oakland firestorms of 1991 and cares deeply for the safety of his renters.

After inspectors went through the inspection process and reviewed plans, a concern arose over the emergency radio response system. When firefighters come to a building, they need to be able to communicate via radio. When anything in the building interferes with radio transmissions, the radio frequency capacity needs to be upgraded. In order to identify whether or not the radio system requires an upgrade, a special test that costs $1,200 needs to be performed to assess the situation. If the building passes the test, the owner doesn’t have to put in the new system.

Dang felt confused. He wondered why the city required him to test their radio system in his building alone? His objection wasn’t about fire safety or lack of concern about it, his protest came from being singled out to test the radio system operated by the Fire Department. He questioned the logic and fairness that his building be subjected to the cost and effort while no other buildings in his neighborhood were required to do so.

He contracted with a third-party consultant to ensure the building complied with the fire code in every aspect of it. The contractor reported that the building met standards. At this point, Dang went to the Fire Marshal for assistance, as he didn’t feel obligated to pay for the radio test or to install a new system. The Fire Marshal didn’t seem to think it was that serious, but referred him to the Fire Chief. Dang wrote an email to the chief, but didn’t get a response.

The matter was ultimately referred to a retired assistant fire chief, as the fire department is still understaffed. The assistant fire chief met a fire truck and crew at the building, they tested their radios, and everything worked fine. Dang wouldn’t be required to put in a new radio system.

Dang shared his story to create awareness about fire safety requirements and certain building safety improvements imposed on property owners. The fact that Dang had to press forward for what he felt was fair to avoid a costly, unnecessary upgrade, doesn’t reflect well on the system. Property owners shouldn’t have to bear the burden of testing the radio system used by the Fire Department. Reform needs to be made in this area – if for no other reason than fairness to all property owners and not just to single one out.