The City Council is looking to crack down on late-night establishments that exceed their occupancy loads on the weekends. On Tuesday, council members approved $20,000 in overtime pay for the Hermosa Beach Fire Department to conduct checks of downtown establishments that might allow too many patrons on their premises after midnight.
Fire Chief David Lantzer said his department needs the money to hire off-duty personnel to conduct the two- to four-man inspections that require having someone at each exit.
“We’re doing this in response to some legal problems we’ve seen, with altercations, shootings, stabbings,” Lantzer said. “And these things are many times attributed to over-crowding, large crowds of people getting together. I think someone described it as someone can bump into somebody in a crowded area and all of a sudden it turns into this, you know, big fight. So overcrowding leads to these other problems.”
The weekends are the busiest time for the city’s emergency services, with almost half of emergency responses happening between Friday and Sunday, according to a staff report. Lantzer’s preference is to schedule and pay off-duty HBFD personnel to enforce occupancy capacities, although Lantzer said he might have to pay firefighters from neighboring cities to help.
The Hermosa Beach Fire Department has five firefighters on duty per shift. Firefighters on the weekends are often called out to medical emergencies and have other duties, and cannot typically spend the necessary time to coordinate with the Hermosa Beach Police Department for occupancy load checks of late-night drinking establishments.
“The idea of this is not just to do the site, but to have a bigger physical presence,” Lantzer said.
Council member Peter Tucker suggested at the Sept. 27 city council meeting that the city fund the fire department overtime. Lantzer has said his department hasn’t issued occupancy load citations in almost a year because the department doesn’t have the recourses to conduct regular inspections.
The council recently appropriated $20,000 for outside police agencies to help patrol downtown Hermosa Beach on the weekends following a rash of late-night crimes over the summer.
The money for additional police officers as well as the $20,000 approved Tuesday for firefighter overtime are not budgeted and will ultimately come from the city’s general fund, city officials said.
At the city’s mid-year budget review process, long-term staffing strategies will be reviewed and those funds will be officially approved, said City Manager Tom Bakaly.
Council members Howard Fishman suggested the fire department look into having a city code enforcement officer participate in the occupancy load checks before paying personnel from outside fire departments.
Mayor Jeff Duclos asked Lantzer if he would like to have a dedicated fire marshal on staff. As it is now, a captain in the fire department is tasked with the fire marshal duties, Lantzer said.
“A city this size with this much commercial activity absolutely needs a dedicated fire marshal position,” Lantzer said. “What I envision is someone who works half-time as fire marshal and works half-time as the training officer. These are the two most important functions in the fire department, and right now both are struggling.”
