Fire Concerns Unfounded At Chatham's River Road Project

CHATHAM, NJ — A previous concern about the River Road housing development has since been resolved as a result of past action by the redeveloper and additional information about the construction.

On March 27, Bob Penn, a Chatham resident and former captain in the Bloomfield Fire Department, warned the council about potential fire hazards within the River Road redevelopment project.

Those concerns have since been clarified, and an update on the situation was provided at the Monday, April 10 meeting.

Following the March meeting, Penn met with Walter Nugent, the Chatham Borough fire official; Michael Quinn, the borough's building subcode official; and Russ Brown, a construction official, according to Penn.

At that meeting, it was made clear that Penn’s concerns were unfounded.

"Normally, lightweight construction would pose a hazard to firefighters; however, they gave me some additional information... that I was very happy to hear," Penn said. "When they sat down with BNE, and mark that date in history, because it almost never happens, BNE said to them, 'Tell us what you need because we're going to do it.'"

Penn stated that at that meeting, he learned three pieces of key information that changed the dynamic of the River Road building.

"From the beginning, this building was designated with fire prevention and fire safety in mind, and the Borough’s fire prevention experts worked with the developer on everything from fire truck access to fire separation to sprinkler design. Thus, there was no response or change needed following Mr. Penn’s comments except to correct the record, which he did," the Chatham Borough Council said in a statement.

"We appreciate Mr. Penn’s willingness to meet with our fire prevention staff and confirm that they had done an excellent job in overseeing the design and construction of the River Road building in a way that will ensure the safety of our residents and firefighters."

One of the original concerns that Penn stated to the council was the apparent truss roof system, which can pose a danger to firefighters as they are more prone to collapse. BNE officials, however, have clarified that the truss bases will have a sprinkler system.

"That's unbelievable. That is such a plus because the problem with lightweight construction is when that fire enters into the truss base, and that can happen if you don't have an effective sprinkler system; it just runs wild," Penn said.

The addition of the sprinkler system on the truss bases provides additional protection for the residents and will most likely put out the fire in most cases, according to Penn.

Another precaution taken by BNE is the reinforcement of fire stopping, which means that the redevelopers fortified the structural components in the building that aid in the prevention of the spread of a potential fire.

Those structural additions also alleviate the concern Penn had regarding potential rescue capability concerns. Firefighters instead will be able to implement a rescue system called Protect in Place.

Rather than attempting to remove fire victims, that rescue system calls for them to remain in place. The sprinkler system and fortifications make it safer for residents to remain indoors.

"The fact that they built things in that are going to contain the fire is huge, like I said; it just changes the whole dynamic. So a lot of my concerns that I expressed at the last meeting, in talking to those three gentlemen, it's an entirely different ball game," Penn said.

This article has since been updated with a statement from the Chatham Borough Council to further clarify that Penn’s concerns were unfounded.