Architect who evaded building codes to stand trial

[mark handler]

Architect who evaded building codes to stand trial in California fireman's death

Architect who evaded building codes to stand trial in California fireman's death - San Jose Mercury News

By LINDA DEUTSCH, Associated Press

Posted: 11/29/2012 09:56:54 AM PST

Updated: 11/29/2012 09:56:55 AM PST

LOS ANGELES -- A German architect on Wednesday was ordered to stand trial on manslaughter charges for the death of a firefighter who was crushed after a portion of a ceiling collapsed during a fire at a luxury Hollywood Hills home.

Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan held that architect Gerhard Albert Becker engaged in deliberate deception and intended to evade building codes during construction of the house. The judge said he was concerned about testimony that indicated Becker put in wooden fireplaces behind drywall.

"He acted recklessly and with gross negligence," Tynan said at the end of a lengthy preliminary hearing.

Becker pleaded not guilty and will be arraigned on Dec. 12.

Investigators believe the Feb. 16, 2011, fire began in a top floor fireplace. A ceiling gave way as veteran firefighter Glen Allen was fighting the flames, and chain saws had to be used to free him from the debris.

Allen died two days later. Five other people were injured.

Becker is a well-known architect in Europe who was working on his first U.S. project. The three-story 12,000-square-foot home was to have been the location of a photo shoot for the reality TV show "Germany's Next Top Model."

The 48-year-old owned the mansion and was also the construction contractor. The fire broke out shortly after a certificate of occupancy was issued.

Becker installed outdoor fireplaces indoors and ignored warnings on the packaging that said the fireplaces were intended for outdoors use only, Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney said. No venting was provided and combustible materials were used, he said.

The fire was inevitable and could have happened after the models for the TV show had moved in, Carney said. The TV show had been scheduled to start shooting two days later.

"One can only imagine what could have happened to those models," he said.

Becker's confidence in the home's safety was evident because he was sleeping in the just completed house when the fire broke out, attorney Donald Re said. He blamed a building and safety inspector for approving the construction, but the Los Angeles city building inspector -- Brad Bascos -- testified he never saw any fireplaces during the inspection.

After the fire, Bascos said he found four fireplaces that had been installed in violation of building codes. He said they were made of drywall and two-by-fours with electrical extension cords and plugs hidden behind the walls.

Had he seen the fireplaces, he would have never approved them, Bascos said.

Carney ended his presentation with an email from Becker to a building contractor who was reconstructing the house after the fire.

Becker asked for the similar fireplaces to be installed, Carney said, then read from the email: "I want this to be installed after the final inspection so that we don't have any final delays by the inspector."

"Not only did he construct a fireplace that killed Glen Allen," Carney said. "He wanted to do it again."

 

[codeworks]

tragic . we never get 'em all. and people get upset when we try to do our job , they don't understand it's about their protection as well

 

[brudgers]

For the record, the guy wasn't an architect. He was unlicensed.

 

[AegisFPE]

...a fireplace that killed Glen Allen.

While the origin and cause of the fire may have been traced to a fireplace, the fatal injuries sustained by Greg Allen were more directly caused by the collapse of the ceiling.I understood the collapse of the ceiling was the result of ponding caused by the failure of the residential fire sprinkler system piping, attributed to excessive heat in the combustible concealed space of the ceiling.

It would seem that if the fire started in the wall, then perhaps there was a failure in the firestopping that should have been present between the vertical wall and horizontal ceiling cavities.

Rarely is such a catastrophic event the result of a single point of failure.

If the Line of Duty Death is pinned solely on the "architect" for the fireplace installation, then the conditions may be ripe for future LODDs due to fire extension within combustible concealed spaces due to insufficient fireblocking and combustible sprinkler piping.

Are fireblocking provisions adequate and not sufficiently enforced, or is more robust fireblocking or FR ceiling membrane provisions required where combustible sprinkler piping is present?

 

[Mark K]

There is a real difference between situations where the architect intended to violate the code and was active in efforts to hide violations from the inspectors and more normal situations where the violations were passive and unintentional. Do not read more into this situation than is really there.

Would suggest that the building owner and likely the contractor will also find that they have some liability.

 

[mark handler]

Would suggest that the building owner and likely the contractor will also find that they have some liability.

The Architect is the building owner....