Council may OK license requirement for grease-cleaning firms
Response to fatal restaurant blaze
By John C. Drake
Globe Staff / May 6, 2008
In the grease-cleaning business, some companies understand the dangers of restaurant kitchen fires and how to prevent them. But others clearly do not, say city officials, and the results can be tragic. Now Boston is poised to assert some control.
Reacting to the deaths last year of two firefighters in a West Roxbury restaurant fire, the City Council is about to approve a new ordinance that would establish a city licensing requirement for the people who perform regular cleanings and inspections of restaurant kitchen vents.
The ordinance, proposed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, came up for discussion during a hearing yesterday, and the council may vote tomorrow. It would take effect next year, placing Boston among a small number of big cities across the country, including Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas, that regulate the companies responsible for ensuring that dangerous amounts of grease do not collect in kitchen fans, ceilings, and hoods.
Training and certifications currently are voluntary, and there is virtually no regulation of the cleaners.
"We don't have a database of people who we feel have the qualifications to inspect and clean these hoods," said Boston Fire Chief David Joseph, the city's acting fire marshal, explaining the need for better regulations. "It runs the gamut from companies that are certified, to others that are just jumping in and offering the service."
Two Boston firefighters died battling a blaze at Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese restaurant in West Roxbury in August 2007 that began when grease, trapped in a double ceiling above the kitchen, caught fire.
An investigation into the fire, released in February, found that a rusted exhaust pipe that allowed heat and flames to escape into the ceiling was also thick with grease.
Owners of the restaurant indicated to authorities that their exhaust system had been cleaned before the fire, but the receipt for the cleaning service showed workers did not clean the critical area between the stove and the roof where the grease-choked exhaust pipe led.
"What happened at Tai Ho was an alarm to all of us that we may not have fail-safe inspection procedures," said Councilor at large Stephen J. Murphy.
The proposed ordinance, submitted last month by Menino, could have wide-ranging impacts on city restaurants and cleaning companies.
National Fire Codes adopted by Massachusetts require that restaurants regularly have their exhaust ducts cleaned by a "properly trained, qualified, and certified company or person." But local fire officials are left to determine what constitutes a qualified cleaner.
There are hundreds of power washers and small cleaning companies that offer duct-cleaning services to restaurants, said Fire Department and industry representatives.
But few area companies, and none in Boston, are certified by the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association or the Power Washers Association, the largest trade groups.
"You don't technically need to have any kind of licensing or certification, which is the scary part, because you're not dealing with pressure-washing someone's deck; you're dealing with major fire hazards," said John Gaffney, operations manager for Advantage Hood Cleaning of Hanover, which is certified by the international association and does most of its business at Boston-area restaurants.
J&B Cleaning, the Roslindale firm that cleaned the Tai Ho's restaurant's system, is not certified by either of the trade groups. Family members of Paul Cahill and Warren Payne - the two firefighters killed in the blaze -retained lawyers soon after the fire, but lawsuits have not been filed against the restaurant or others.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in March he would not seek criminal charges in the fire.
The ordinance would require cleaners to pay a $25 licensing fee after showing proof their employees have gone through an accepted certification process.
In addition to the two well-known trade groups, Fire Department officials said the city is in talks with Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, a Boston trade school, about creating a training and certification program. The costs could be substantial for the cleaners. Classes required by the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association for certification cost $1,000 to $3,000 for each employee.
In the end, restaurants would be held accountable for ensuring their ventilation systems are cleaned by a licensed company, said Fire Commissioner Rodrick Fraser.
Operating a hood-cleaning service without a license or hiring an unlicensed cleaner would bring fines of $200 per day, according to the ordinance.
High-volume commercial kitchens in most restaurants must be cleaned and inspected quarterly; smaller, low-volume kitchens, such as those at senior centers and churches, must have their systems cleaned annually.
Murphy said he is concerned about the impact the requirements may have on small, established commercial cleaners that may not be able to afford the extensive training.
Councilors said they may add language to the ordinance to allow some older companies to qualify for a license by taking a test.
Joe Greene, owner of the West on Centre restaurant in West Roxbury, across the street from the site of last year's fatal fire, said hiring high-quality hood cleaners has always been in the restaurants' best interest.
"I don't want my restaurant going on fire," Greene said. "We clean it quarterly, down to the bare metal. I wouldn't have it any other way."
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.
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