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Tomball apartments deemed safe after two unrelated fires
  
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By TANA ROSS
Two fires have plagued Cobble Creek Apartments in Tomball over the past nine months leaving many asking if the multi-family complex built 24 years ago is safe.
Cobble Creek Property Manager Trish Wilson believes the apartments are safe and in fact plans to continue living there, herself.
“I love this property, it is a great community,” she said. “I have lived here with my husband since September 2005.”
The first fire, which occurred last February, claimed all of Building 2 that housed 16 apartments and resulted in a loss of $2 million for owners, Commonwealth Southwest Investments of Massachusetts, according to Wilson.
Wilson, who has managed two other properties, said the fires were unrelated. Wilson said the fire was electrical in nature, but not in the sense most people think.
“The fire marshal said the first fire was a fluke,” she said. “It was ruled accidental and he said it could have been caused by a nail that went through a wire during construction and eventually caused a problem or it could have been caused by a rodent chewing through a wire.”
Fire Marshal Steve Chapman confirmed Wilson’s statement, but called the cause of the fire “an unspecified electrical short.”
“There was nothing they could do,” he said. “It started between the floor joists and was a slow smoldering fire. It would be hard to determine the exact cause.”
Chapman said Cobble Creek was not issued any citations but was inspected after last winter’s fire and several fire code violations were found. Chapman said most of the violations were small, like labeling breakers. He said his office has been working with the apartment management.
“Every apartment complex has its problems, most are maintenance issues,” he said. “I would not say it (Cobble Creek) is unsafe.”
Cobble Creek was built 24 years ago. International building and fire codes did not exist at that time. Since then the city of Tomball has adopted both, and in fact the City Council adopted the updated 2006 International Fire Code in March.
“The adopted code usually runs one or two years behind to allow time for the glitches to be worked out,” City Secretary Doris Speer said.
The second Cobble Creek fire was on Thursday, Nov. 13 and only damaged one apartment in Building 5. Wilson said the couple living in the apartment has been relocated to another apartment while theirs is being repaired for mostly smoke damage. Chapman said the cause of the fire is undetermined.
“No one was home and it was caused by an undetermined heat source at the floor between the refrigerator and the trash can,” he said.
While Cobble Creek has 50 fire extinguishers throughout its nine buildings, Wilson admitted they are not pointed out to residents. Moreover, fire escape plans are not reviewed with residents when they move into the complex.
However, residents are required to sign a smoke detector addendum when they sign their lease and are therefore responsible for smoke detectors in their apartments. One bedroom Cobble Creek units have a smoke detector above the bedroom door and two bedroom units have two smoke detectors, according to Wilson.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of detectors we find in drawers,” she said. “I guess people take them down when they beep and need a battery.”
Cobble Creek keeps smoke detector replacement batteries in the leasing office for residents, for no cost.
But at the heart of concerns is safety, something Gemstar Construction Manager David Stegenga said residents of the new Cobble Creek Building 2 can be assured of.
“This building will never burn again,” he said.
New systems with smoke alarms and sprinklers are being incorporated into the new building expected to open sometime next spring. Stegenga said the fire alarms blow a 120-130 decibel horn that activates alarms in the entire building. In addition, the sprinklers which are activated by fire, automatically call the system contractor who in turn calls the local fire department.
“All this happens in seconds,” Stegenga said. “And, this building is being built to withstand 90 to 120 mph winds.”
The new Cobble Creek building is benefiting from building and fire codes. However, those safety features come at a cost.
Next year the International Residential Code will require all new one-family and two-family homes and townhouses to be built with fire sprinklers installed. This change will be included in the 2009 edition of the IRC, which should be published by the end of this year.
“This could add as much as $10-$15,000 in costs to a new construction,” Stegenga said.
Under Texas law, a city that adopts the International Residential Code may amend it to meet local concerns. The city of Tomball last adopted the IRC in November 2007.
Cobble Creek Property Manager Trish Wilson believes the apartments are safe and in fact plans to continue living there, herself.
“I love this property, it is a great community,” she said. “I have lived here with my husband since September 2005.”
The first fire, which occurred last February, claimed all of Building 2 that housed 16 apartments and resulted in a loss of $2 million for owners, Commonwealth Southwest Investments of Massachusetts, according to Wilson.
Wilson, who has managed two other properties, said the fires were unrelated. Wilson said the fire was electrical in nature, but not in the sense most people think.
“The fire marshal said the first fire was a fluke,” she said. “It was ruled accidental and he said it could have been caused by a nail that went through a wire during construction and eventually caused a problem or it could have been caused by a rodent chewing through a wire.”
Fire Marshal Steve Chapman confirmed Wilson’s statement, but called the cause of the fire “an unspecified electrical short.”
“There was nothing they could do,” he said. “It started between the floor joists and was a slow smoldering fire. It would be hard to determine the exact cause.”
Chapman said Cobble Creek was not issued any citations but was inspected after last winter’s fire and several fire code violations were found. Chapman said most of the violations were small, like labeling breakers. He said his office has been working with the apartment management.
“Every apartment complex has its problems, most are maintenance issues,” he said. “I would not say it (Cobble Creek) is unsafe.”
Cobble Creek was built 24 years ago. International building and fire codes did not exist at that time. Since then the city of Tomball has adopted both, and in fact the City Council adopted the updated 2006 International Fire Code in March.
“The adopted code usually runs one or two years behind to allow time for the glitches to be worked out,” City Secretary Doris Speer said.
The second Cobble Creek fire was on Thursday, Nov. 13 and only damaged one apartment in Building 5. Wilson said the couple living in the apartment has been relocated to another apartment while theirs is being repaired for mostly smoke damage. Chapman said the cause of the fire is undetermined.
“No one was home and it was caused by an undetermined heat source at the floor between the refrigerator and the trash can,” he said.
While Cobble Creek has 50 fire extinguishers throughout its nine buildings, Wilson admitted they are not pointed out to residents. Moreover, fire escape plans are not reviewed with residents when they move into the complex.
However, residents are required to sign a smoke detector addendum when they sign their lease and are therefore responsible for smoke detectors in their apartments. One bedroom Cobble Creek units have a smoke detector above the bedroom door and two bedroom units have two smoke detectors, according to Wilson.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of detectors we find in drawers,” she said. “I guess people take them down when they beep and need a battery.”
Cobble Creek keeps smoke detector replacement batteries in the leasing office for residents, for no cost.
But at the heart of concerns is safety, something Gemstar Construction Manager David Stegenga said residents of the new Cobble Creek Building 2 can be assured of.
“This building will never burn again,” he said.
New systems with smoke alarms and sprinklers are being incorporated into the new building expected to open sometime next spring. Stegenga said the fire alarms blow a 120-130 decibel horn that activates alarms in the entire building. In addition, the sprinklers which are activated by fire, automatically call the system contractor who in turn calls the local fire department.
“All this happens in seconds,” Stegenga said. “And, this building is being built to withstand 90 to 120 mph winds.”
The new Cobble Creek building is benefiting from building and fire codes. However, those safety features come at a cost.
Next year the International Residential Code will require all new one-family and two-family homes and townhouses to be built with fire sprinklers installed. This change will be included in the 2009 edition of the IRC, which should be published by the end of this year.
“This could add as much as $10-$15,000 in costs to a new construction,” Stegenga said.
Under Texas law, a city that adopts the International Residential Code may amend it to meet local concerns. The city of Tomball last adopted the IRC in November 2007.
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