Clock ticks on ambulance company to comply with code

A Grafton ambulance service company has been given one more month to correct fire code violations that have existed for four years before the village Plan Commission decides on revoking the firm’s operating permit.

Assistant Fire Chief Matthew Karpinski told commission members during a Sept. 28 meeting that after years of notices to LifeStar Emergency Medical Services to address issues with no action being taken, the matter has reached a point where the commission must become involved.

“Our ultimate goal is for compliance and when the tenet is unresponsive to those requests, we reach a certain point where there is not much more we can do,” he said.

A fire inspection in October 2017 found that LifeStar had multiple violations, including inadequate fire walls, missing fire doors and no egress or exit lighting in the space, according to a letter submitted to the village by Karpinski. 

After four years, six requests to come into compliance and a fire that filled the building with smoke, no action has been taken to correct the issues. 

LifeStar is a state liscened ambulance service based in West Bend with four locations throughout Wisconsin, one of which is in Grafton at 600 Beech St. The Grafton operation is made up one ambulance and two emergency management service personnel who provide ambulance service to institutional cliental such as hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. 

The conditional use permit, approved on March 25, 2014, allows LifeStar to operate out of the location 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Karpinski’s letter said the fire department has never received any correspondence from LifeStar since the 2017 inspection after multiple requests to correct the issues. 

“The Village of Grafton Fire Department has provided LifeStar an overabundance of time to come into compliance with the Fire Code,” he stated. “The requests have gone unanswered now for four years.” 

The letter stated that the violations present serious life safety concerns to LifeStar employees when they are in the building, a risk demonstrated during a fire in Dickman Manufacturing, which shares a space with LifeStar. 

During the fire, smoke filled the LifeStar occupant space, which is outfitted for crew members to sleep in, partially because of fire code violations, the fire department noted. While no crew members were sleeping at that time, Karpinski stated the fire could have posed a serious risk to building occupants. 

No fines have been imposed from the violations. 

According to village documents, Karpinski most recently notified LifeStar that the facility be brought up to fire code on Aug. 27 but never received a response. He then notified the company again on Sept. 7 that a public hearing would be held on its conditional use permit during the September Plan Commission meeting but again received no response. 

“The inaction of Lifestar over the last four years demonstrates that they have no intention of coming into compliance with the Fire Code. Additionally, the Village of Grafton and the Village of Grafton Fire Department have received no correspondence from Lifestar or its representatives after the notification of possible Plan Commission action,” Karpinski’s letter stated.

LifeStar owner Mike Krueger said during the Sept. 28 meeting that he believed fire code issues with the building had been resolved years ago. “Quite honestly, we thought this had been taken care of,” he said.

Krueger questioned why after all these years there was a sudden action on the violations before being interrupted by Village President James Brunnquell.

“You’re making some assumptions that there was no communication over the years and there really has been,” Brunnquell said.

Krueger requested the commission grant him one more month to come into compliance with the fire code.

The commission honored the request with the stipulation that LifeStar make significant efforts to correct its violations before the Oct. 26 Plan Commission meeting.