Thirteen-year fire safety inspector Tammy Green visits area businesses, reviews city building plans and counsels juvenile fire setters. Oddly, everyone is not happy to see her.
“I wear many, many hats all day long,” Green said.
Green and three other fire safety inspectors in the Jackson Township Division of Fire’s Fire Prevention Bureau work to promote overall safety, and protect lives and property in Jackson Township. She inspects hotels, restaurants, schools, homes for adoptions/daycare/foster care, does public fire safety education including fire extinguisher training, and is a bed bug education and prevention resource for other fire departments.
“We’re not always warmly welcomed,” she said. “Some people don’t like us because we cost them money when we come in and find deficiencies in maintenance of their life-safety features required by the Ohio Building Code to occupy their buildings.”
The bureau performs nearly 2,075 annual fire safety inspections in Grove City, the village of Urbancrest and unincorporated area of Jackson Township. The bureau’s newest fire safety inspector is Scott Burris.
“When we see a light out in an emergency exit sign that costs $100, we are not always popular,” said fire safety inspector Indol Moore. “But what’s the price of a life?”
Green’s hard work has not gone unnoticed. She received the Central Ohio Code Officials Association “Fire Official of the Year” award in November 2013 and the Ohio Building Officials Association “Ohio Fire Official of the Year” award in February 2014.
Green gave colorful remarks at the OBOA banquet including saying, “I absolutely love my job because I have the opportunity to learn something new everyday – even if it is coming face-to-face with a bed bug for the first time!”
For more information on the Jackson Township Division of Fire’s Fire Prevention Bureau, call (614) 875-5588.
“Our Fire Prevention Bureau enforces the Ohio Fire Code,” said Fire Prevention Officer Capt. Bill Dolby. “Our dedicated and highly trained inspectors have worked behind the scene for decades, saving lives and property by preventing disasters in the first place.”
