During a public hearing before the Boulder County Commission on Thursday, October 20, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., the Commission considered fire code updates for the Berthoud and Nederland Fire Departments. Board Chair Marta Loachamin said they have two dockets to approve, one for the Berthoud Fire Department and one for the Nederland Fire Protection District.

Ron Flax, chief building official for the County and secretary for Boulder County Fire Code Review Committee, showed a map of the 20 different Fire Districts in Boulder County. The County has building codes with all the requirements for fire codes in the building process, but each Fire District has to adopt fire codes for their district.

He is working with a wide range of districts. The building codes cover a great deal, but fire codes are about what the fire responding district is going to need for emergency water and egress. He is very supportive of bringing districts more in line with the building codes.

The Berthoud Fire Protection District is trying to align with several counties and districts. They would like to adopt the 2021 fire codes with some amendments, but nothing new. It is a document large and slow to evolve. They make small changes and modest improvements.

“I support it and the fire review committee supports it,” Flax said.

Commissioner Claire Levy asked if there is a standard for fire codes, so they don’t have to figure out 20 different codes. Flax said they should be making the building codes required after which everyone will follow.

She asked if for fire cisterns there is a standard size for a building. Flax said some districts rely on fire cisterns and some don’t use them, but the County is talking about requiring that district wide.

Commissioner Matt Jones said there is not much difference between the codes from 2018 and 2021. Flax said that Berthoud is on the 2018 code and Nederland is on the 2006.

The fire code is published by the ICC on a two-year basis. The state of Colorado does not require fire codes at all.

The Board agreed they need more time to talk about the opportunity to address fire codes County wide. The Board approved adoption of the 2021 fire code for Berthoud.

Flax said the Nederland district (outside of town limits) has a 2006 fire code, but the Town of Nederland has adopted the 2018 codes, so the Fire District is proposing adoption of the 2018 fire code and the Fire Code Review committee agreed with the update. It would include updates on handling hazardous materials.

Flax said he recommended it. Outgoing Fire Marshal Rik Henrickson with the Nederland Fire Protection District said he has been putting this together for the past three years. It’s great for us and our builders and will allow them to know what the codes are,” he said.

The Board approved updating the Nederland Fire District 2018 fire codes.

The next meeting of the Boulder County Commission will be on October 27. From October 27 forward, all commissioners’ public hearings and meetings will be offered in a hybrid format where attendees can join through Zoom or in-person at the Boulder County Courthouse, 3rd Floor, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder.