Manufactured Home Owners Network

(Background Information)
California State Senate
Joseph L. Dunn, Thirty-Fourth Senatorial District (former)
Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Mobile and Manufactured Homes

Mobile/Manufactured Park Fire Hydrant Safety
(Informational & Background Paper)
Prepared by: John Tennyson, Committee Consultant (at the time)
...updated and additional date may now be available...

Note from John Sisker,
Founding Director of the Manufactured Home Owners Network:

The following "pages" were presented as the working foundation for the hearing presented by Senator Dunn on this subject and is included here for informational purposes. I was in attendance at this hearing and will be reporting on the testimony and comments from mobile/manufactured home owners and their representatives, park owners and their representatives, local agency representatives and state agency representatives, is a separate section.

Obviously, in California, this is a major safety issue, which may also need to be addressed in other states as well. The information presented here, courtesy of the Manufactured Home Owners Network, may be helpful if this indeed is deemed a concern in the mobile/manufactured home park where you live.

BUDGET & FISCAL REVIEW

Hearing:
Garden Grove Community Center
11300 Stanford, Room B
Garden Grove, California

Purpose...
The purpose of the hearing is to seek information on the effect of state laws and regulations governing fire protection for mobile/manufactured home parks, particularly those relating to fire hydrants, in order to determine whether those regulations or laws need to be streamlined or updated.

Summary...
A tragic and highly publicized fire in a mobile/manufactured home park in Southern California brought to light inconsistencies in fire safety regulations for manufactured home communities. The state fire code authorizes local fire chiefs to require fire hydrants in mobile/manufactured home parks in their jurisdictions in accordance with current fire local code standards. But the Mobilehome Parks Act, which establishes uniform code standards for mobile/manufactured home parks, imposes an older, lesser standard that requires hydrants in parks built only since September 1, 1968. Most parks fall under the enforcement authority of the state, where the lesser standards are in force, but where local governments have assumed enforcement authority by agreement from the state, they may impose more stringent fire code standards and test and inspect the hydrants. State standards under which the state enforces the Parks Act provide for the adoption of hydrant inspection and maintenance procedures, but the state does not test hydrants to ensure they are operational. Although some local fire agencies may test and inspect hydrants in parks under state jurisdiction, maintenance of these hydrants occurs, if at all, with little oversight. Among others, questions have arisen about the confusing overlap of state regulations, whether older pre 1968 HCD parks that may be more vulnerable to fire hazards should be required to have the same standard of hydrant protection as newer parks, and why standards have not been adopted for the testing of hydrants in parks over which the state has jurisdiction.

Hearing Procedure...
The proceeding is relatively informal. Witnesses will be called upon to give statements or make presentations in the order in which they appear on the agenda. Witnesses are not sworn in and cross-examination by opposing parties is not permitted. However, witnesses are asked to identify themselves and their place of residence or business and may be asked questions by legislators and staff on the committee panel. Individual presentations should be no more than 5 - 7 minutes, exclusive of any questions and answers from the panel. The proceeding will be tape recorded for later transcription in a hearing report published by the committee.

Mobile/Manufactured Home Parks in California...
According to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), there are 5,070 mobile/manufactured home parks in California with some 376,000 spaces. An estimated 714,000 residents live in these parks. Since 1929, the state has established a health and safety standard for auto courts (later mobilehome parks). In 1967, the modem Mobilehome Parks Act was adopted, giving the Commission on Housing and Community Development (now Department) authority to regulate the construction, use, maintenance, and occupancy of mobile/manufactured home parks. A statutory annual $25 fee per park, plus $2 per space, is charged each park for renewal of the annual permit to operate. Regulations are enforced by inspection at the time of initial construction of the park and as a condition of granting the initial permit to operate. Subsequent to the initial inspection, and until 1991, regulations were enforced by HCD only on a complaint basis, with the inspection limited to the matter addressed by the complaint and not a general inspection of the whole park. In 1990, the Legislature enacted and the Governor signed AB-925 (O'Connell), which established the Mobilehome Park Inspection Program, requiring every mobilehome park in the state to undergo a general inspection at least once during a 5-year period starting in 1991. An additional $4 fee per space per year was imposed on parks by this legislation, half of which can be passed through by the park owner to park residents. Some 85 local jurisdictions have entered into agreements with HCD to perform these enforcement responsibilities. Because of budgetary and other constraints, however, the Legislature twice extended the time HCD had to complete the inspections and designated a December 1999 sunset for the program. According to HCD officials who spoke at a November, 1997 committee hearing, as of that time HCD inspections had uncovered more than 150,000 park violations and 351,000 space or resident violations, everything from loose stairway handrails to more serious violations involving utility systems or fire safety. According to HCD, as of 1997, 83% of the violations discovered by the AB-925 inspections had been corrected.

In 1998-99 the Legislature debated the renewal of the Mobilehome Park Inspection Program for 2000 and beyond, with opposition from park owners and some homeowners to increased fees suggested by HCD and some local enforcement agencies as necessary to operate a more "complete" program. SE-700 (O'Connell) was eventually signed by the Governor, effective January 1, 2000. It authorized a new "Phase II" inspection program through the end of 2006 (7 years), using the existing $4 per space fee structure, but focusing the HCD inspection program on parks with the most serious violations (based on records from the '91-'99 inspections) or complaints. Under the new program, not every park under HCD jurisdiction will be inspected under "Phase II."

The Compton Fire...
There are 13 mobile/manufactured home parks in Compton, under enforcement authority of the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), 11 of which did not have fire hydrants installed on the premises until recently. In 1997, the city, at the behest of the fire department, required parks in the city, including the El Rancho Mobilehome Park, a 162-space park at 16002 S. Atlantic Blvd., to install fire hydrants. The El Rancho Park hired a contractor to install 4 fire hydrants in 1998 at a cost of approximately $50,000 but thereafter problems arose when the park owner found he would have to tie the hydrants into the city water system on the far side, rather than the park side, of Atlantic Ave. at an additional cost of $17,000. Thereafter, a dispute arose between the park owner and the city over whether the city or the park would pay this additional cost. Upon an inquiry to HCD by a representative of the Western Manufactured-Home Parkowners Association (WMA) in March, 1999 about the hydrant issue, HCD responded by letter that the state's Mobilehome Parks Act pre-empted the field and the City of Compton had no authority to require hydrants in parks within the city. Negotiations continued between the park owner and the city. The park applied for a permit to install the line under Atlantic Avenue in June, 1999, which was approved by the city in December.

About 1 a.m. on Sunday, December 19th a fire broke out in the kitchen of the mobilehome on space 25C, in which 3 people, including a grandmother and her 8 and 10 year old grandchildren, died. Neighbors tried to put the fire out with garden hoses, but when the Compton Fire Department arrived the mobilehome was already fully involved. Newspaper accounts claimed that fire fighters discovered that the fire hydrants were useless, and valuable time was spent "scrambling" to hook up 1,200 feet of hose to the nearest hydrant on the public street. Others say the fire department, knowing the park hydrants didn't work, was prepared from the beginning to fight the fire with two pumpers holding 1,000 gallons and hoses extended from the public street. Before the fire was brought under control, it spread destroying a second and damaging a third mobilehome. At the time this background paper was printed, no official report on the fire from the city fire department was available to the committee.

A December 20th city water department memo notified the city attorney that the Atlantic water main was only 4 inches, inadequate to provide necessary fire flow to the park's 6 inch fire hydrants, and that the line should be connected, instead, to an 8 inch city water main on Alondra Blvd., less than a block north. The park indicated a willingness to cooperate in making this change, and the city has now reportedly agreed to pay the cost of hooking up the park to the Alondra main. The city council also passed a resolution in late December to enter into an agreement to take over enforcement of the Mobilehome Parks Act in the city from HCD.

Two Standards...
The Office of the State Fire Marshal promotes fire protection by promulgating standards for, among others, state-owned and occupied buildings, high-rise structures, children's homes, nurseries, homes for the aged, schools, and public assembly halls (presumably including mobile/manufactured home park clubhouses) with occupancy of 50 or more people. (Health & Safety Code Sec. 13143). The State Fire Marshal aids local agencies in the enforcement of laws and ordinances relating to fire prevention and has promulgated, though not adopted, state fire code standards that require, at the discretion of the local fire chief, mobilehome parks to provide and maintain fire hydrants supplying the required fire flow, when any building or facility is in excess of 150 feet from a water supply on a public street. The hydrants shall be maintained in an operative condition and subject to periodic tests as required by the chief in accordance with approved standards. (Sections 901.6, 903.2, 903.4.1.2, Article 9, Part III, CA Fire Code). Most local fire agencies have adopted these guidelines, with variations, in their local fire codes.

Mobilehome Parks Act regulations adopted by HCD provide that fire protection equipment meeting 1977 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards be installed in parks of 15 or more spaces built after September 1, 1968. (Health & Safety Code Sec. 18691 and Sec. 1300, Article 6, Chap. 2, Div. 1, Title 25 of CA Code of Administrative Regulations). The 1977 NFPA standards call for hydrants to be installed so that, for a concentrated fire flow around an "important building," hose lines shall not exceed 500 feet. (Sec. 4-2.1, Chapter 4, NFPA 24-1977). Local agencies may adopt more stringent fire code requirements than those of the Parks Act for mobile/manufactured home parks only if they assume jurisdiction to enforce the entire Parks Act. (Sec 1304, Article 6, Chap. 2, Div. 1, Title 25). The regulations also provide that no fire protection installation shall be made without a permit from HCD and approval from the local fire department (Sec. 1306). Each mobile/manufactured home lot or space must have a 3/4 inch valved water outlet (garden hose size) for fire protection (Sec. 1308). Lastly, where fire department services are not available, parks shall establish a private hydrant system with a 1 1/2" valved hydrant within 75 feet of each lot (Sec. 1312).

Comments:
1. Information vacuum? The committee has found there is a vacuum of information, making it difficult to determine how many parks have hydrants. HCD has no statistical information available on the ages of California's 5,070 mobilehome parks, or how many have been constructed since September 1, 1968. HCD also has no statistics on the number of parks under state jurisdiction that have fire hydrants, or if they have hydrants, to what standard the hydrants conform. Most local jurisdictions with park enforcement authority (less than 1/3 of the parks in the state) know the hydrant status of their parks. Generally speaking, according to sources familiar with the history of mobile/manufactured home parks, most are thought to have been built during the '50's, '60's and early '70's, with the vast majority constructed prior to 1968.

2. Overlapping & confusing standards? One of HCD's regulations references recognized 1977 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards for mobile/manufactured home parks built since 1968 (Sec. 1300). The 1977 standards call for hydrants to be installed so that, for a concentrated fire flow around an "important building," hose lines shall not exceed 500 feet. Yet, another HCD regulation provides that no hydrant shall be installed without approval from the local fire department (Sec. 1306). Should the regulations be streamlined to more clearly define which standards, local or NFPA, apply to park hydrants under HCD jurisdiction?

3. Outdated standards? There have been three new NFPA editions adopted since 1977, the latest in 1995, with a number of differences between the 1977 and 1995 editions regarding hydrant installation and maintenance standards. For example, the 1995 NFPA standards call for annual testing of wet barrel hydrants and semi-annual testing of dry-barrel hydrant testing in the early spring and fall. The 1977 NFPA standards don't even address this issue. Should HCD regulations be revised to reference the newer NFPA standards, rather than the 1977 edition?

4. Double standard? There appear to be two sets of fire hydrant standards for mobile/manufactured home parks, those adopted by local fire agencies that are similar to guidelines promulgated by the State Fire Marshal in the California Fire Code, and another pre-emptive but weaker standard, adopted by HCD and applicable to mobile/manufactured home parks under state jurisdiction. The Mobilehome Parks Act provision limiting installation of fire hydrants to parks built after September 1, 1968 is based on Health & Safety Code Section 18691, enacted in 1966. The committee has not been able to determine the legislative intent of this 34-year old statute. The apparent intent was to "grandfather-in" older parks to save owners the cost of retrofitting them with fire hydrants. Yet HCD regulations, possibly drawn up as some kind of compromise, also allow local agencies which assume enforcement jurisdiction of the Parks Act, such as Compton, to impose greater fire protection standards. Should cities and counties have to assume enforcement of the entire Parks Act in order to enforce their own stronger fire protection standards for mobile/manufactured home parks? Should older parks under HCD that are arguably more susceptible to fire hazards be subject to better fire protection standards or continue to be exempt under convoluted double standards adopted more than 30 years ago?

5. Hydrants that don't work? The Mobilehome Parks Act provides that fire protection equipment meeting the requirements of the National Fire Protection Association Standard No. 24, 1977 Edition, shall be installed and maintained in parks built after September 1, 1968. Those standards provide that the hydrants shall be tested at least annually for proper functioning in accordance with requirements of the authority having jurisdiction. HCD has not adopted any requirements for testing, flushing or maintaining fire hydrants in those mobile/manufactured home parks. An HCD representative told the committee that on a park inspection HCD will inspect the outside of the hydrant to assure that it has no obvious defects (leaks, missing parts, etc.) but that HCD inspectors do not have the "expertise" to test fire hydrants. Park operators are not required by HCD to keep records indicating whether park fire hydrants have been tested or inspected on a regular basis and by whom. Apparently, few local fire departments check hydrants in parks that are not under their own local enforcement. Should mobile/manufactured home parks under HCD jurisdiction that have fire hydrants be subject to regular inspection and testing of those hydrants to assure they work? Should HCD or local fire agencies test and inspect mobile/manufactured home park fire hydrants?

6. Pre-planning the fire. One local fire marshal told committee staff that pre-fire planning for mobile/manufactured home parks by his department calls for using pumpers and running hoses back to hydrants on a public street as a matter of course because his department does not consider park hydrants, where they exist, to be "reliable." Apparently, many local fire agencies have such plans for fighting fires in mobile/manufactured home parks. Do all local fire agencies have such contingency plans or preparedness plans for fighting fires in mobile/manufactured home parks in their areas? Should preplanning, specifically for mobile/manufactured home fires in parks where hydrants don't exist or don't work, be required by state law or regulation?

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