'Past time to get the upgrades': Milwaukee Common Council considers new fire safety legislation
MILWAUKEEE (CBS58) -- Change is on the way after multiple deadly fires in buildings without sprinklers, including one just last week.
"People are dying because the government has allowed these buildings to exist for 50 years. It's far past time to get the upgrades that we know save lives in the building buildings that we need them," said Alderman Peter Burgelis.
On Thursday, Nov 13, local leaders presented a new ordinance that would require landlords to provide tenants with a document that could save the lives of their tenants.
"We want a separate document just like with a lead paint disclosure it's a separate form that you have to sign and acknowledge where it's not buried in the fine print," said Alderman Burgelis.
This would only be for residential buildings built before 1974 that have more than 16 units or are more than three stories. However, that would only account for 750 buildings in Milwaukee.
"That's mitigating the risk and trying to save or protect as many people as we can with what we have," Alderman Burgelis explained.
Fire Chief Aaron Lipski and the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) have been working together on creating a database of the all the buildings in Milwaukee that don't have fire sprinklers.
The commissioner of DNS says roughly 30,000 to 40,000 residents in Milwaukee are living in a building without sprinklers.
"The department doesn't have the capacity. We don't we have 27 fire inspectors, we don't have enough to do all of them, but we're going to start with the most risky, the biggest buildings and then look and see where we are next year if we need to adjust that number up or down a few inspections or more," said Alderman Burgelis.
This comes just three weeks after state lawmakers presented three bills to help with fire prevention and detection in Milwaukee.
"This is a really good time for landlords to step up and make their building safer for their tenants," said Alderman Burgelis.
Alderman Burgelis says the next step is for the common council to vote then it heads to Mayor Johnson's desk.