Four Salt Lake City firefighters say the city is at fault for a fire that broke at a Marmalade fire station last March.
The firefighters, Steven Hoffman, Kyle Marston, Gregory Holmes and Jim Williams filed notices of claim on February 29th. According to the documents obtained in a records request, the firefighters say Salt Lake City failed to install smoke detectors in the firefighter’s living quarters at station #2 and refused to purchase flammable rag containers leading to a fire that caused injuries to the crews there.
According to the claims, this was one of several fires caused by oil-soaked rags at the Salt Lake City Fire Department since 2011.
Firefighter Steven Hoffman said in his statement, the city and fire department took no actions to prevent the fires and the violation of city code was intentional and done because of cost.
Captain Mark Bednarik is with the Salt Lake City Fire Department.
“In my discussion with the fire Marshall on this matter, he stated that the building met the fire code to the year that it was constructed to, which is what was required,” Bednarik says. “And the detector that was present on that floor did work and was activated.”
Bednarik says following the incident, the department voluntarily purchased oily rag containers for all 14 fire stations. In addition the department upgraded smoke detection equipment beyond what the law requires.
