MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The University City is infamous for its street and dumpster fires, now the city will soon have a new tool to combat the decade’s old problem. The state Home Rule Board has approved the city’s proposal to use Home Rule to grant the city fire marshal the authority to make arrests in certain situations.
The approval came at the board’s meeting Monday in Charleston.
“It’s been a long, ongoing issue that we’ve been proposing for many years that dates back to previous administrations as far as cities that do have fire marshals, getting them on par with the state fire marshals,” said Morgantown Fire Marshal Capt. Ken Tennant.
The proposal, which will now go back to city council for final approval, grants the city fire marshal to have arrests powers to enforce the Fire Prevention Code. Specifically, the Fire Marshals can arrest any individual disobeying lawful orders at the scene of a fire and any individual who violates the Fire Prevention Code prohibitions against malicious burning, obstructing a fire marshal, or failure to obey orders. Incident to the arrest powers, the fire marshals would have authority to obtain and serve warrants for violations of these provisions.
“We’ve had a 30 or 40 year problem with nuisance fires in the street or the dumpsters, so part of this proposal is to try to address those issues,” Tennant said.
Data from the National Fire Data Center show from 2008-2012 Morgantown reported the second highest number of dumpster fires in the county, more than cities such as Los Angeles, San Antonio or Philadelphia.
An additional 175 hours of training in law enforcement is required for the marshals to make arrests. Tennant says they have already undergone the training this summer, preparing for the proposal’s approval.
Morgantown City Council will likely take up the issue next month.