CHENANGO COUNTY – New state legislation requiring homeowners to notify local governments of newly built or rehabilitated structures with truss type, pre-engineered wood construction has county code officials scrambling to find the best way to enforce the law county-wide.
Effective as of Jan. 1, state law mandates that anyone who uses truss construction in any new building project report it to their respective codes office. The legislation was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in September in an effort to improve firefighter safety across the state.
“From a fire safety standpoint, trusses will behave differently in a structure fire,” explained Steve Fox, codes enforcement officer for Chenango County. While the truss construction method is safe for normal use, he explained, it can become fragile and collapse with little or no warning when exposed to fire.
“There have been so many instances when truss floors, ceilings or roofs have collapsed on firefighters during a fire. Trusses are a great way to build and reduce waste, but once they catch on fire, they deteriorate quickly,” said Norwich City Codes Enforcement Officer Jason Lawrence. “This law is driven by instances of that happening during a fire and firefighters were put at risk.”
Perhaps the biggest concern with this new law, according to county code enforcement, lies in logistics. Under the law, homeowners are required to have a placard of approximately six inches in diameter someplace on their home which notifies first responders of truss construction. Codes officers in the county are working together to identify a location for placards that will be uniform on every home.
“This is a very similar law to one that already exists for commercial buildings. The challenge is finding a place to put these signs that is consistent with every home,” said Isaiah Sutton, Chenango County Director of Environmental Health and overseer of the county codes enforcement office. “We have been in contact with the City of Norwich to do the best we can to streamline the process.”
Although the law specifies that placards be placed near the home’s meter pannel, that may not be possible, according to Lawrence. Most homes in the City of Norwich have meter pannels in the basement, making it impossible to notify firefighters of truss construction before it’s too late.
“Wherever we decide these placards should go, we want to make it standard so that firefighters throughout the county know where to look for that information on any building,” Lawrence added.
What’s more, Lawrence noted that placards are also raising concerns regarding homeowners’ opinions about their home’s appearance. “It’s difficult because not only is there a new law to enforce, but we have to ask people to put signs on their houses someplace, and that might make a lot of people upset.”
Nevertheless, the new law says a certificate of occupancy or completion can’t be issued after new construction until the sign is there. “This is a state law that we have to enforce,” said Lawrence.
After codes officers agree on a standard location for placards, plans are to work with local suppliers in the area to make the signs more easily available for purchase.