No one in Michigan can say how often fire safety inspections happen at some of the riskiest buildings used by the public, where firefighters have battled at least 1,245 blazes in the last 18 months.
The state fire marshal has never performed annual inspections of churches, theaters, restaurants and other "places of public assemblage," as required by a 1978 law enacted in response to a massive fire at a Kentucky ballroom that killed 168 people.
The Legislature has never funded the requirement, which current Fire Marshal Kevin Sehlmeyer said could require his office to more than triple in size. State Budget Office spokesman Kurt Weiss said in an email to the State Journal that fee increases designed to bring in more revenue for the fire marshal have been rejected by the Legislature.