Tent Collapse Sparks Call for Safety Review in Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- In the wake of a tent collapse in St. Louis last month that killed one person and injured 100 others, the city's fire marshal says it's time to consider enhanced safety regulations for tents.

Columbia Fire Battalion Chief Steve Sapp sent an email to Community Development Director Tim Teddy saying that fire marshals in other cities have been discussing their tent permitting regulations and how far they go to ensure public safety.

To that end, the city is hosting a public input session at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to discuss proposed changes that could help clarify and streamline the process for issuing permits for large tents that are open to the public.

In an interview, Sapp said as more outdoor events are held in the city, the city government should consider taking a look at its safety regulations for tents. In addition to the tent collapse in St. Louis, Sapp pointed to a 2009 incident in north Columbia in which a church was holding an outdoor service under a tent when a thunderstorm quickly moved it, blowing over the tent and causing attendees to suffer injuries.

"We want to be customer-service oriented, but at the same time we can't not focus on public safety," Sapp said.

According to a staff report presented to the Columbia City Council in February, the city originally began to consider its regulations regarding tents after it discovered that a few downtown businesses had been keeping tents propped up past the city's 180- day limit for tent permits. The report states that enforcement of the city's tent regulations had been "spotty."

"Tents are a class of structure that had fallen through the cracks," the report states.

Sapp said the city's current rule for tents is "one-size-fits- all," and the proposed changes would apply different rules to different tents depending on how long they are erected. In the proposed changes, for an applicant to obtain short-term tent permit that lasts three or fewer days, the city would require applicants to submit code analyses with their permit applications for open-sided tents that measure 1,000 square feet or more and tents with one or more sides that measure more than 400 square feet. The fire department would conduct inspections at its discretion.

For long-term permits, which last from more than three days to fewer than 180 days, applicants for permits to erect tents larger than 400 square feet with one or more closed side and all tents larger than 1,000 square feet would be required to submit a code analysis. A parking analysis also would be required for the long- term permits, and the fire department would conduct a minimum of one inspection and might inspect the tent later at its discretion.

Sapp said the city should reconsider allowing 1,000-square-foot tents to go uninspected and not inspecting certain large tents and that it should consider a method for determining whether or not tents are properly anchored.

Shane Creech, manager of Community Development's Building and Site Development Division, said he is not aware of any testing mechanism to ensure that tents are erected up to manufacturers' specifications. "That's a difficult thing to inspect," Creech said.

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