MARK WAITE / PVT Jim Wright, chief of the state fire marshal division, is introduced to Nye County commissioners. Advertisement

Nye County commissioners signed an inter-local contract with the State Fire Marshal's office last week, authorizing Nye County to take over fire inspections on new construction.

Charles Abbott and Associates, the county's building and safety department, will handle those inspections.

Commissioners voted to authorize the policy March 21. It took nine months to get the contract signed.

"This agreement will, in a sense, become a model that we can hopefully employ in other counties across the state where those jurisdictions have capabilities to perform those fire inspections," Jim Wright, chief of the state fire marshal division, told commissioners.

"I apologize for the delay this took. We had the original document pretty quickly between us but the attorneys wanted to make sure everything was legal and some of the terminology was correct," he said.

Wright said the fire marshal's office will still be responsible for conducting arson inspections, inspecting state-owned buildings, institutions and licensed-care facilities. The state fire marshal's office will also review any project exceeding 1 million square feet and requests for variances of county and state fire codes.

A deputy fire marshal has been sent from Carson City to inspect local construction projects, which has resulted in lengthy delays. The state decided not to fund a fire marshal based in Pahrump.

Brent Steed, senior building inspector with Abbott and Associates, said some builders of commercial construction projects held off until the county signed the contract with the state fire marshal's office.

Abbott and Associates was hired to run the county's building and safety department in 1998. The company was given the additional task of septic tank inspections in 2001 after complaints by local contractors of delays in those inspections by the state health division.

The county's inspection of fire sprinkler systems and fire alarms must be conducted according to the International Fire Code and National Fire Protection Association standards.

The agreement states the county will require full enforcement of the latest Nevada State Fire Marshal regulations, International Building Code, International Fire Code, Uniform Mechanical Code and the National Fire Protection Association standards.