One year after a house fire on Bedford Street killed a UW-La Crosse student and injured three UW-Madison students, city officials are taking action in the form of a new fire-safety ordinance that would create stricter fire-alarm regulations in downtown housing.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, will introduce the Peter Talen Memorial Ordinance to Common Council members Tuesday night in honor of the 23-year-old Plymouth, Wis., native who lost his life in the Nov. 18, 2007, fire at 123 N. Bedford St. while visiting his brother in Madison.
This ordinance is very personal to me,"" Verveer said. ""I believe very strongly in this measure to avoid the anguish and tragedy I saw a year ago.""
According to Madison Fire Department public information officer Lori Wirth, there was a mass amount of support and discussion about how smoke detectors are used and maintained in student and downtown housing following Talen's death.
In Madison, landlords are required to install working fire alarms, but it is the tenants' responsibility to notify them if they stop working. The smoke detectors in the Bedford Street house were not working properly, a problem Wirth said is not uncommon. People disable their fire alarms if they go off randomly, or they forget to replace the batteries.
""Nobody ever expects a fire at their home, so they can't really say, 'I'll just take the batteries out for a little while, or I'll go to the store later.' We see a lot of smoke alarms not working properly,"" Wirth said.
The ordinance, which would take effect in August 2009, demands the use of new tamper-resistant smoke detectors with lithium batteries that last 10 years, and would require landlords to place fire alarms in every bedroom. The alarms would also feature a silence button, rather than taking out the batteries.
Verveer said the ordinance benefits students living in houses built before 2002, as houses built since then have stricter safety codes. ""There are so many students living in old houses downtown, so this is a major safety improvement,"" he said.
Although the ordinance will raise costs for property owners, Verveer said he has been working with landlords to move beyond the monetary increase. ""What's important is to avoid another tragedy. If the ordinance saves one life, it's worth it,"" he said. ""There is no price tag on a life.""
University Communications spokesperson John Lucas said fire safety has become a top priority for Dean of Students Lori Berquam after fires at a Carroll Street apartment complex last November and another blaze at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on Langdon Street in May.
""Last year was a huge wake-up call for not only students, but also staff on campus,"" Lucas said.
Though UW-Madison doesn't own or control safety in much of the downtown housing, Lucas said the university is working to establish a relationship with the MFD to stress the importance of safety to students.
""It's something you have to take really seriously,"" he said.
