Close Call Provokes Discussion of New Fire Rules
A fire broke out in the basement of the Village Vine wine bar and bistro on March 13. Photo: Rachel Pastan
Smoke billowing from the Village Vine wine bar and bistro at 6 Park Ave. in downtown Swarthmore prompted a 911 call at 2:28 a.m. on Saturday, March 13. Fire companies from Swarthmore, Morton-Rutledge, Springfield, and Garden City responded.
No one was hurt, and there was no property damage, according to Village Vine co-owner Jill Gaieski, who is also a Swarthmore Borough Council member.
At the March 16 meeting of the council’s public safety committee, Gaieski expressed relief that the fire had not been worse. “The town could have gone up,” she said. “Someone, by the grace of God, walked by Village Vine and noticed smoke.”
Swarthmore Fire and Protective Association President Rick Lee said he was surprised when he learned that the fire had been called in by a local resident rather than the department being alerted by an automatic alarm. “The smoke detectors had gone off, but not notified the fire company,” he said.
Lee recommended that borough council require that fire safety systems be monitored by a central station, “so that when they go off, we are notified.” If adopted, the rule would apply to multifamily dwellings as well as commercial and institutional properties. The new standard would not apply to existing businesses, but would come into play when a building was sold or a new business moved in.
All three committee members agreed that the additional provision should be added and brought to the full council for consideration.
One Night, Two Fires
At nine o’clock on the night of Friday, March 12, Gaieski said, a Village Vine employee finished cleaning up, tossed some used damp towels in a basket in the basement, locked the restaurant, and went home. One of the towels may have been used to wipe down the hot stove. Lee said his investigation revealed that a towel had combusted and begun smoldering, creating smoke that set off the fire alarms.
Lee reported that the person who called in the fire heard the alarm sounding for a long time before walking up the street to see what was happening. At that point, they saw the smoke and picked up the phone.
All residents were safely evacuated from the building. “By about four in the morning, everyone was heading home,” Lee said.
The same night, a fire in Brookhaven destroyed four businesses, according to Lee and Swarthmore Borough Manager Jane Billings.
“It’s exactly what could have happened here,” Billings said. She added that her concern was for the residents of the buildings, the businesses, and the firefighters. “If you go to a fire and you watch volunteer firefighters going into those buildings, you want to do everything you can to protect them,” Billings said. She called the proposed new standard “forward-thinking.”
Closing the Loop
Billings told the committee that many businesses already have central-station reporting. So do the borough and Swarthmore College. She said that it is rare for a municipality to require this feature. But, she added, it’s “foolish” for a business to have a smoke-detection system and “not spend $30 a month to have it monitored.” The main expense is installing the system in the first place, she remarked.
Gaieski agreed. She said she had been surprised to learn that her business, while doing everything required by the borough when it opened in 2020, had neglected this important element. Adding the requirement would “close the loop,” she said.
Lee offered to talk with business owners about the new standard. He reported that he has long wanted to visit borough businesses and explore with them steps that could promote better fire safety. Such visits would also enable his department to better plan for future emergencies, he noted.
“We get to see where the stairs are and things like that,” Lee said. “That would help us in the middle of the night.”
Borough council is expected to take up the issue at its April 5 meeting.
