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By JOE HEALEY jhealey@leader.net
Saturday, January 29, 2000 Page: 2A
PLYMOUTH TWP. – A township firehouse, which was hit with numerous state
fire code violations three years ago, has spent about $200,000 bringing the
building up to code, the fire chief said Friday.
A complaint listing 13 violations was filed against the firehouse on 11 E.
Poplar St. several years ago by the state Department of Labor and Industry’s
Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety. The complaint was filed against
the Tilbury Volunteer Fire Co. and its chief, John Rinehimer.
Code violations included many missing exit signs, and only two exits from
the second floor, only one exit from the former locker room in the basement,
and only one exit from the former weight room in the basement. Also, several
corridors in the building’s second floor were not wide enough.
Also, the building had no occupancy permit; it had doors that were missing
or mislabeled and an inoperable emergency lighting system. Also, the first
floor boiler room did not have an automatic sprinkler system.
The fire company agreed to fix all the violations and has been doing so
over the past three years, Rinehimer said.
“We rolled up our sleeves and did what had to be done to make sure the
building was compliant,” Rinehimer said.
The Department of Labor recently refiled the complaint because the fire
company did not submit a copy of its blueprints by December, as was required.
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph Augello on Friday assigned
the complaint to District Justice Fred Pierantoni of Pittston.
Rinehimer said the building is awaiting its occupancy permit from the
state. Rinehimer said an administrative mistake prompted the violations to be
refiled.
“The blueprints of the building were sent in by our engineers to the wrong
place,” Rinehimer said. “They need those documents before they give us the
certificate of occupancy.”
The building, the former Harter High School, also houses the popular
“Horror Hall” around Halloween. Rinehimer said the parts of the building
that were in violation of state code were closed off while Horror Hall was
open.
He said the complaint was politically motivated because he was a former
township supervisor. Rinehimer, a Republican township supervisor for 12 years,
was defeated in the November general election.
Call Healey at 829-7225.