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Remember the Code |
| The Cody Blue Foundation was formed to facilitate
training of parents, students and firefighting personnel. We
are non-profit and operate from donations and fundraising and
with the help of a very supportive community filled with friends,
family and empathizers. If you look at the statistics relating
to college students who have died in off-campus fires, the
numbers will startle you:
There were 18 student-related fire deaths for the 2007-2008
academic year, the second highest total on record since 2000.
Campus Firewatch has identified 129 student-related fire
deaths across the nation since 1999 with 84 percent of
them occurring in off-campus housing, which is where more
than two-thirds of the students lived.
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Template for the tragedies:
 Older,
off-campus dwelling
Drinking
excessive amounts of alcohol
Disabled
smoke alarms
Most
happened on weekends and in the early hours
41% reported
from 5 a.m. to 6:59 a.m.
69% were
in houses built in 1929 or earlier
65% of
the victims were males
28%
of the smoke detectors were missing or disconnected
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| There was federal regulation passed (H.Res 295)
in September of 2006 proclaiming September as Campus Fire Safety
Month.
What is the Code? First
and foremost to us, it’s Cody.
Some of his friend and family called him “Code” or “Code-Man”.
Secondly, it’s a building code and it applies to rental
housing.
NC General statute 42-42 reads “All rental (multi-family)
property must be inspected (by the landlord/owner) prior
to the beginning of each tenancy and that smoke alarms must
be in working/operational order. In Cody’s case, the
house he moved into in August of 2005 was considered a multi-family
dwelling. There were eight fraternity brothers in the duplex – four
on one side and four on the other. It was a split level house
with two floors visible from the front and three from the
back. There was a “landlord” who had, for some
odd years, been the keeper of the dwelling. The house was
owned by someone else. It came to light that the routine
maintenance and various repairs to the house were hired out
by the landlord to one of the fraternity brothers who occupied
the house. It remains the responsibility of the landlord
to inspect, prior to the tenancy of each new renter, the
existence and function of smoke alarms. But he didn’t
inspect the house. And sadly, THERE IS NO ENFORCEMENT of
this code. There is not an office to oversee the enforcement,
nor officials to conduct inspections. So that leaves it up
to the occupants (although according to code, it’s
the landlord or owner’s responsibility).
There were two smoke alarms in the rental house on Cody’s
side of this duplex – one in the basement and one inside
a bedroom next door to Cody’s that the father of the
occupant installed. Cody went to the house after work that
Thursday night and spoke to the tenants who were gathered
on the other side of the duplex. He went to his room sometime
after 11:00 p.m. His last phone call was from his girlfriend
right after midnight. He was scheduled to work the next morning.
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the house that night were several guests, on the middle floor
under Cody’s room, playing pool and
drinking. The last four people left after 4:30 a.m. The fire
department was called at 6:30 a.m. after neighbors saw the flames. |
Four smoke alarms in the closet
still in the package |
The
other side of the duplex had sufficient alarms, ladders,
extinguishers. The occupant of Cody’s
side in the basement who had a alarm, escaped. The occupant
whose bedroom was beside
Cody’s, jumped from the back window of his bedroom (three
flights down.) |
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cause of the fire was a discarded cigarette that was thrown
or had fallen into a love seat and combusted.
The pine walls in the 1965 house acted like kindling. We found
the smoke alarms in the closet outside Cody’s room after
the fire, still in the package. |
So how do we fix this?
So many houses are remodeled to hold students (as many as possible
= more $$) and the renovation is done often without permits.
These remodels, if done with a permit, have to meet state
and local requirements regarding their structure and safety.
Because many remodels are done without a permit, there is
no inspection. They are under the radar, thus there is no enforcement
of these requirements. The responsibility lies on the renter,
student and the parents.
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Cody's window after the fire |
| We don’t believe that legislation will change the situation.
It will take restructuring city government to create a position
for inspections alone. Our mission is to reach as many people
as we can and beg them to look.
We didn’t look. Our guilt is a monster that haunts us
in our sleep and in broad daylight, every day of every week.
Remember the Code
The existence of building codes becomes useless when there
is no enforcement. There is sadly no end to our grief because
we assumed Cody was in a safe environment. So we ask you
to Remember the Code. Remember the building code that no
one will enforce to ensure your safety. Inspect your apartment
or house. Some local fire departments will install smoke
alarms for you if you do not have them, free of charge.
If they won’t, contact us. Remember the Code that
was our Code, our Code-Man, who never had the chance to
get out.
Thank you.
Kinsey lights birthday candles for Cody on his 22nd birthday
11/14/2007 |
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