Like many areas in Texas, Blanco County just west of Austin is a suburban county - home to about 8,500 residents - that has been feeling the strains of steady growth during the past decade.
As new subdivisions and commercial developments sprout up in unincorporated areas of the county, county officials are looking for ways to gain some control over new construction and protect the safety of county residents.

Blanco County Judge George Byars said he and county commissioners want to ensure public buildings built in the county, such as apartments, schools, restaurants or strip centers, meet appropriate safety standards.

But without countywide building or fire codes in place, Byars said the county doesn't have the authority to require builders to meet even minimum standards.

"We are looking for some way to make sure these businesses and buildings are properly put together and don't become a fire hazard," he said.

Some county officials say without a fire code in place, counties could be putting themselves at risk and placing citizens' lives in danger if builders aren't meeting safety standards.

Collin County Judge Ron Harris said he believed there could be some concern about liability in the event of a fire if a county specifically took action not to enact a fire code that could have prevented the fire.

Collin County adopted a fire code in 1992.

"From Collin County's perspective, anything you can do for public safety - there's no question that you should do it. I think it's what you should do, period. I think (having a fire code) is the right, safe thing to do," he said.

Harris said counties should consider implementing fire codes not only to protect citizens and the county in the event of a fire, but also because most people expect standards to already be in place.

"Citizens moving into rural parts of the county take it for granted that certain things, like wiring, adhere to some kind of code," he said.

Under a state law passed by the 75th Legislature in 1997, Byars said the county has the authorization to implement a fire code which would establish specific standards for new commercial or public buildings and allow the county to charge fees for inspections and building permits, similar to the authority granted to municipalities.

Prior to 1997, only counties with populations of more than 250,000 had the authority to establish fire codes.

The Legislature then amended the bill to allow suburban counties to adopt fire codes if they are adjacent to a county with a population of more than 250,000 – such as the case with Blanco County, which sits next to Travis County with a population of 700,000.

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, Byars said he began working with Don Stence, comprehensive planning coordinator with the Capitol Area Planning Council in Austin, to track down other counties of similar size that had already developed fire codes and were willing to share their development strategies.

Unfortunately, since the law was expanded in 1997, Stence and Byars have found that very few suburban counties have taken advantage of it.

Several larger counties, including Bexar County and Collin County located in northeast Texas, adopted fire codes in the early 1990s.

Travis County officials are working on adoption of a fire code and have submitted a proposal packet to county commissioners for approval.

Just south of Travis County, officials in Hays County, which has a population of about 88,000, also said they are looking into the possibility of adopting a fire code but said it was too early to discuss details.

Byars said he believed most counties have not taken advantage of the new authority because they didn't see a need for it.

Harris from Collin County agreed, saying smaller counties might not have enough activity to support enforcing a fire code.

"You've got to have some buildings being built or renovated to generate enough revenue to pay for (the department)," he said. "If you only had 15 or 20 buildings in a year, that might not justify a department just to administer the fire code."

But, as more commercial development moves out of the cities and into unincorporated areas of suburban counties, more and more counties should look into the possibility of adopting fire codes to ensure that public buildings are built safely, he said.

Stence said funding might be another deciding factor for many counties.

Besides having the authority to implement fire codes, counties also need to have the staff and budget to actually administer the codes, he said.

Harris said many smaller counties might not have a large enough staff available in their public works departments to handle enforcing and administering a fire code.

However, for some counties, the wording of the statute itself has been a roadblock.

Rep. Dan Ellis, D-Livingston, prefiled a bill in December that would change the law by allowing any county, regardless of size or location, to adopt fire codes.

The proposed law was prompted by several counties in Ellis' district who did not fit the criteria under the current law but wanted to explore the possibility of adopting fire codes.

In Polk County, for instance, county officials are struggling with rapid growth that has caused the county population to jump from 30,000 to about 55,000 in six years.

Polk County Fire Marshal Jay Barbee said Polk was the second fastest growing county in Texas.

"With that growth comes some pain. We think a fire code would be an answer to some of that pain," he said.

However, because Polk County has a population less than 250,000 and is not adjacent to a large county, it cannot adopt a fire code under the current statute.

If the bill passes this session, it would ultimately be up to Polk County commissioners to decide whether to adopt a fire code. But, Barbee said having a fire code would be an effective preventive measure to ensure safe construction of new properties.

"It's another tool for counties to have some control over how people build commercial properties. We want to make sure there's some element of safety there," he said.

Barbee said he recognized the need for a county fire code last year when the county began receiving complaints about a dilapidated apartment building that was becoming an eyesore.

"We had the Livingston Fire Marshal come out and inspect it and we found out if we had had a fire code we could have resolved a large number of the issues and complaints," he said.

Without a fire code in place, the county had no way to force the property owners to met specific building standards.

After talking with the county judge and Rep. Ellis, local officials mounted an effort to get the population threshold removed from the statute.

"We don't want to change the fire code we just want to make it available to those counties who want to make use of it," Barbee said.

If the county decided to adopt a fire code, Barbee said the county might consider pursuing an interlocal agreement with local city inspectors to help enforce and administer the fire code. In the future, county staff would eventually take over the responsibility of enforcing the fire code.

According to the current statute, counties that adopt fire codes are responsible for inspecting buildings to determine if they comply with the fire code as well as issuing final certificates of compliance if they do meet the standards.

But, the statute allows counties to contract with municipalities for the administration and enforcement of the fire code – something Byars said Blanco County also was considering pursuing because they currently lack the staff to administer it themselves.

"We're trying to contract with the two cities that have inspectors and then eventually develop our own inspections department here in the county," he said.

In Collin County, safety issues rather than rapid growth prompted county commissioners to adopt a fire code.

Harris said the county pursued adoption of a fire code primarily to ensure new construction had proper electrical wiring and other safety measures in place to prevent structure fires.

"This was really done before we started experiencing growth purely from a safety standpoint," he said.

Collin County has a population of about 430,000.

Prior to the adoption of the fire code, Harris said the county had some problems with improper electrical wiring in some new buildings.

"I think it's worked really well here," Harris said. "I think the result is that buildings in the unincorporated areas of the county are safer because they are meeting that minimum standard of the fire code."

Fire Marshal Steve Defflbaugh agreed, saying enforcement of the code has helped reduce the number of structure fires and created better quality of life for county residents by ensuring their safety and increasing property values.

The Collin County Fire Marshal's office was responsible for enforcing and administering the fire code until last year when the county created a separate office to handle that duty.

The county currently has three electrical and building inspectors and two environmental health inspectors.

According to the statute, a fire code applies to only commercial establishments and public buildings constructed in an unincorporated area of the county.

If a county adopts a fire code, it must confirm to or exceed the Uniform Building Code or to a national fire code adopted by the Southern Building Code Congress, the National Fire Protection Association, or the Building Officials and Code Administrators International.

Collin County officials recommend counties interested in adopting a fire code follow the new International Fire Code components of the International Building Code.

Harris said the international code was used as a uniform standard around the world and would most effectively protect the county from liability.

"If you don't stick to those international and national fire codes as the minimum standards and you get into any liability questions, then you're on your own," Harris said.

If a county adopts a fire code, buildings cannot be constructed in an unincorporated area of the county without obtaining a building permit.

To apply for a building permit, a person must submit to the commissioners' court a plan of the proposed building and an application fee.

The commissioners' court must issue the permit if the plan complies with the fire code or deny the plan within 30 days after the court receives an application and fee.

If the commissioners' court does not issue the permit or deny the application within 30 days, the construction of the building is approved.

The law also allows counties to charge fees for inspections, the issuance of building permits and certificates of completion.

Counties must use the fees to offset the costs of administration and enforcement of the fire code – not to generate money for the general fund.

Harris in Collin County said the fees charged to applicants covered department costs, including hiring inspectors and buying equipment, without requiring additional funding from the county budget.