Best way to honor fallen Porterville firefighters? Make city buildings safe
There must be a time of mourning the deaths of the two Porterville firefighters who were killed when they searched for anyone trapped inside the city’s library when a roaring fire broke out. The community should honor the courage and service of Capt. Raymond Figueroa, 35, and engineer trainee Patrick Jones, 25.
But once the grieving is over, city officials must face some tough questions. The firefighters’ deaths are especially tragic because Porterville leaders had known for years that the library needed to be rebuilt. The 67-year-old library did not have a sprinkler system that would have activated when smoke and flames first broke out. At the time it was built, a fire suppression system was not required.
In 2008, an assessment of the library requested by the Porterville City Council found that, at the least, a smoke alarm system needed to be installed. The cost: $25,000.
“A smoke alarm system with central station reporting is a good, inexpensive solution,” the report said, now cruelly ironic. Unfortunately, that system was not installed.
Why did that single upgrade not occur? The reason is largely cost. Like many small towns in the central San Joaquin Valley, Porterville struggles with not having enough tax revenue to fund city operations. Porterville’s 60,000 residents have a per-capita income of $17,334 — less than half the statewide per capita income.
When it comes to publicly owned buildings, however, there is an inescapable fact: Citizens expect their government buildings to be safe. Not having enough money to assure such safety is not a legitimate excuse.
Big impact
The library was adjacent to Fire Station 1, and the chairwoman of the Porterville Library and Literacy Commission told Bee reporters that threat of a fire inside the building “never occurred to me.”
But the blaze began late Tuesday afternoon when two 13-year-old boys allegedly started the fire. They were caught and will be prosecuted in juvenile court, likely on arson and manslaughter charges. Information on how the fire started and spread will be explained in the coming weeks.
Besides the two deaths — a huge loss for a small-city fire department — the blaze also claimed the library’s collections, including local historical documents that almost certainly were irreplaceable.
Gone, too, will be the community-meeting function that the library offered to Porterville residents.
Old buildings
That 2008 report also determined there was water damage in part of the roof, a sinking foundation in spots and an electrical system that was at capacity. “The suspended ceiling is not braced for earthquakes,” the report added.
It is no surprise that older buildings would have issues. Making sure they are safe must now be the focus.
City officials from Parlier to San Joaquin, Coalinga to Dinuba, Huron to Lindsay, and the many other small towns in the region, need to assure their citizens that they know the conditions of their buildings and have a plan to address problems.
Will repairs be held up over a lack of money? Then local officials must contact their state Assembly and Senate representatives and impress on them the need for funding to make their government buildings safe.
California state government collected a $21.5 billion surplus in 2019. The projection for the surplus this year is $7 billion — smaller but still robust. There’s money for one-time improvements, if Gov. Newsom will agree.
The price is not cheap. Porterville was hoping to start construction on a new library in 2023-24 at a cost of $20 million to $25 million. But the latest tragedy has put that cost in real perspective.
Ensuring no one else dies in a fire in a city-owned building is the best way to honor the lives of Porterville’s brave firefighters.