GREENFIELD — Locally made fried dough and French fries will flow for another year at the Franklin County Fair now that concerns about strict fire code enforcement that emerged last year have been smoothed over.
Fred Steiner, the fair’s president, said all of the vendors plan to return when the fair opens Thursday despite a controversy last year over the state’s fire codes requiring expensive upgrades to use equipment that emit grease-laden vapors, like grills and deep fryers, in their booths and tents.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office requires commercial cooking systems that emit grease-laden vapors to be equipped with hoods and fire suppression equipment. They can’t be used under tents under any circumstance.
Many vendors told The Recorder last year that it would be hard to justify spending upward of $5,000 to upgrade their booths to comply with the codes to participate in an event that’s just four days long.
New National Fire Prevention Association codes adopted in January 2015 left local fire departments like Greenfield with little wiggle room to waive rules for short-term events like the fair.
But Greenfield Fire Chief Robert Strahan said he was able to work with the fire marshal to find alternative methods for the vendors to become code-compliant.
“Because there is a fire apparatus on site up there, and within a year new hoods will be installed, we were able to get code compliance and keep costs down,” Strahan said. “We also had some new guidelines set by the state fire marshal for exemptions on frying under tents — there are new requirements, but they won’t need suppression systems.”
Those new requirements include using tents that are rated fire-resistant and keeping a safe distance between the cooking appliances and the general public, he said.
“There are several other changes that go with it, but they’re in lieu of having an expensive hood and suppression system,” he said.
“The fire department did one hell of a job over the winter, everything has been corrected,” said Steiner, the fair president. Fair organizers are so happy with the department’s help that it’s been named one of the grand marshals of this year’s parade, he noted.
Steiner said the fair always has firefighters on scene in case of an emergency throughout the day.
“I always remember even as a kid they had that truck up by the grandstand sitting there, and they still do that today,” he said. “It’s a big relief, all the vendors are back with minor things to do.”
He said most will have until April 2017 to get some type of hood over their stoves, but they won’t need fire suppression systems — just an exhaust hood with a fire extinguisher nearby.
“When I went up to see Chip Hager (of Hager Farm, one of the vendors) to tell him, he said it makes a world of difference,” Steiner said.
Last year’s controversy set off a series of talks between fire officials to figure out what could be done to fix things, said Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, who said he brokered talks between Greenfield fire officials and the state fire marshal.
“The marshal put the Greenfield chief (Robert Strahan) into a working group with other chiefs. They were very helpful and willing to help, and I was willing to file legislation if that’s what it took, but they got to a place where that was not necessary,” Mark said.
Dan Devine of Brad’s Place in Greenfield, who is a member of the Bernardston Kiwanis, said the group’s booth will be open this year, and he’s extremely pleased with how the Fire Department was able to work with the vendors to make things work.
“They really went to bat for the rest of us and did a lot of work for us all,” Devine said. “They made it so we can stay.”
Devine noted that the fair has always had a full company of firefighters on scene ready to jump into action in case of an emergency.
Mark Snow, the co-owner of the Four Leaf Clover restaurant in Bernardston, said his booth will be up and running without having to make any changes or install an expensive hood.
“We’ll be there,” he said.
Timothy Farrell of Greenfield, the former president of the Franklin County Rotary Club, said his organization’s booth was already properly equipped.
“We already had an exhaust hood, and we don’t fry food, so we are good,” he said.
You can reach Tom Relihan at:
413-772-0261, ext. 264
or trelihan@recorder.com
On Twitter,@RecorderTom