inspect the inspectors
"The Los Angeles Fire Department failed to conduct annual inspections of at least one-third of the city’s hazardous materials storage sites in recent years, state environmental protection officials said Friday.
The California Environmental Protection Agency found 19 deficiencies during a recent audit of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s hazardous materials program, including one in which 66 percent of regulated sites were given inspections in the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
The audit also found that in 2011, the department’s Fire Prevention Bureau’s inspectors looked at 69 percent of the sites, and 48 percent in 2010.
Sites inspected by the bureau include industrial sites where chemicals are manufactured, refineries, auto repair shops and paint stores.
The fire department has also failed to do reports for all inspections and does not require facilities to submit testing and leak detection documents.
Fire department staff also have not followed up with sites where problems such as leaks have been detected and are sometimes not physically present at hazardous materials storage sites when they do their inspections."
Really? The Los Angeles Fire Department failed to inspect 30% of the hazardous material in my area? If the inspectors are not inspecting, what ARE they doing all day??? And we're paying taxes for this bullshit? As a government agency, I thought the fire department was supposed to be protecting me. Turns out fire inspectors are not doing their job--and putting everyone at risk from hazardous material. WHY?
