Charles Abbott and Associates, the company performing building inspections for Nye County, has been given the fire inspection contract as well, a move expected to speed up the process.

State Deputy Fire Marshal Tony Capucci, who served in Pahrump since 1998, retired early this year. A deputy fire marshal from Carson City -- usually Chad Hastings -- has traveled to Pahrump every month to perform inspections since then.

State law permits the fire marshal's office to designate those duties to counties under 100,000 population.

The Nye County Commission approved the inter-local agreement with the state fire marshal's office, a resolution setting the inspection fees and the addendum to the original agreement with Charles Abbott and Associates without any discussion recently.

The contracts had been tabled last month, when Commissioner Joni Eastley wanted Dick Johnson, Nye County manager of building safety and code compliance, to contact county fire chiefs for their consent.

Local fire chiefs will be responsible for annual fire inspections within their communities.

"I think it'll help this county quite a bit because people will not have to wait for 30 to 45 days for an inspection. That will save some of these contractors and owners a lot of money on the interest they have to pay out on these big loans," said Brent Steed, senior building inspector for Abbott and Associates.

Steed said he will be making the fire inspections along with Dennis Lockhart, manager for fire protection services for the company, based in Mission Viejo, Calif., and Tom Mayes, who currently works for Charles Abbott in Pahrump.

All three are certified in fire inspections, he said.

Steed described the inspectors' job as enforcing a state law, just like a state patrolman on the highway enforcing the speed limit. He said Abbott and Associates works in 80 different jurisdictions.

Johnson, in a memo to county commissioners, said the inter-local agreement is the first between the state fire marshal's office and a rural Nevada county.

The fire marshal's office will review the work done by Abbott and Associates but won't charge a fee for the service, he said.

Fees collected for fire inspections will be split between Abbott and Associates and Nye County on a sliding scale.

Representatives of the state fire marshal's office were not available for comment.

The duties assigned to Abbott and Associates, which took over running the county's building department in 1998, were expanded in 2001 when the company began inspecting septic tank installations.

That action six years ago also came after complaints about delays in state inspections holding up construction projects.

Inspections of fire sprinklers, fire alarms and other items must comply with International Fire Code and National Fire Protection Association standards.

The state fire marshal's office will still investigate fires.

Nye County will supply the state fire marshal's office with an annual report of plans reviewed and inspections completed prior to April 30 each year.

The terms of the agreement are for five years.

Capucci in a previous interview, supported having Charles Abbott and Associates perform the fire inspections.