Huntingburg Common Council: Key boxes suggested to help fight fires in businesses and apartments
The Huntingburg Common Council considered a request by council member Glen Kissling to create an ordinance that would require all new construction of businesses and multi-family dwellings in Huntingburg to require a “Knox Box”.
Knox Box is the brand name for a lock box installed on the exterior of a building that holds a key to the entrance of the building. Under Kissling’s recommendation, the new boxes installed on the buildings would hold a key to the building and the Huntingburg Fire Department would have a master key to access the box in case of a fire or other emergency that occurs when the building is locked.
Kissling said that it’s not uncommon for first responders to arrive at an emergency call only to have to wait for a key holder to come unlock the door. That additional time can mean the difference between putting out a small fire or watching a large fire as it consumes a building.
And, even though the fire department can knock down doors to gain entry, the Knox Box allows them to get inside faster and save the building owners the expense of having to replace a door that has been kicked in by firefighters and first responders.
Only the fire department will have the master key to the Knox Box. Kissling suggested the keys could be placed in the fire department trucks that respond to emergencies first.
Kissling says that the Knox Box ordinance would be an important initiative to compliment the Stellar Communities Designation.
The request for the council to adopt an ordinance requiring the new Knox Boxes to be used in new buildings was tabled to give the council time to review the language of the ordinance and then bring it back to be reviewed at the next meeting.
The council also too the following actions at the meeting Thursday
–Adopted the 2015 budget.
–Approved ordinance number 2014-26, an ordinance amending Huntingburg Municipal Code Chapter 154 to amend and restate the zoning regulations of the flood plain overlay zoning district. The Huntingburg Planning Commission made the recommendation to adopt the ordinance that aligns the City of Huntingburg with Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plain maps.
This should NOT be mandated – it is an individual issue for business and multi-family dwelling owners to decide for themselves. Maybe this administration is seeing too many “stellar” stars and getting big-headed about big government. If this is such a no-brainer, most will want the knox boxes – even existing entities. Promote it that way, but don’t mandate it. Plus, while the premise sounds good, what about key-less entry systems that are becoming more common, and/or other issues that can and will affect the ability to access the box: vandalism, water/rust, bugs and dirt/grime that affect the locking mechanism of the box and prohibit it from being opened. Not only that, but I doubt seriously that with a fire smoking or life on the line, even the fire department isn’t going to wait to access the box to get the key to open the door.