CASPER, Wyo. — The Natrona County Board of County Commissioners heard from Natrona County District Fire Inspector Brian Oliver regarding the newly constructed Nordic Lodge on Casper Mountain. During the commissioners’ meeting, Oliver informed the commissioners that the lodge is almost ready to open to the public.

There’s just one problem, he said: It doesn’t have a fire alarm or sprinkler system.

Oliver said that, originally, the building was classified as an A-3 Occupancy. This label is a building classification within the International Building Code, used for assembly purposes, such as church or worship services, recreation, amusement and more. It is, essentially, a space where people gather for non-food-related activities. The lodge itself, however, has more potential but with that potential comes the need for extra safety precautions when it comes to fire alarms and suppression.

“The original intent for the building was to be an A-3 Occupancy,” Oliver told the commission. “A-3 would put a lot less requirements as far as the fire code goes. In the process of the architect developing the plans, I was approached at the beginning of 2024 and was told [they] wanted to have a kitchen in [the lodge]. So, my suggestion was to put a small, residential-style hood system in there, along with a fire alarm system.”

Oliver said implementing the kitchen system would give county officials “more leeway” when it came to hosting events. Having a kitchen would allow the county to rent the space for wedding receptions, birthday parties and other events where food could be served.

Oliver said when he reviewed the plans for the building, there were, in fact, markings for a fire alarm, as well as a sprinkler system.

“The original intent behind that was that the cost of a sprinkler system up there — we were going to have a cistern and a pump, and it was unfeasible,” Oliver said. “So, in lieu of that, working with the previous building official, we decided that a small fire alarm in the hood system would meet the intent of the fire code and make the building safer. It would give an external notification, just in case something happened.”

Oliver told the commissioners that since that time both he and the county had experienced “employee turnover.”

“The original person that was reviewing the plans on both of our sides left, and we kind of were left in limbo there,” he said. “Here just a couple weeks ago, the building was finished and ready for its final inspection. We went up and we did the final inspection and found that there was no fire alarm in it.”

In later comments to Oil City News, Oliver stated that he was not originally assigned to the Nordic Lodge project, nor was he a part of the initial conversations regarding its construction.

“I did not know about the kitchen or the project details until March of 2024,” Oliver said. “At the end of 2023 and beginning of last year, I was in the process of hiring and training a new Fire Marshal. In March 2024, I was asked to complete the plan reviews for the project until our new Fire Marshal completed his training and was capable of reviewing building plans. This is when I was informed of the kitchen and intended use of the building.”

Oliver said that in terms of code enforcement and restrictions, the minute one adds food and drink to the property, the building classification changes from A-3 to an A-2.

“An A-2 does require a fire alarm and a sprinkler system in it,” he said. “The only holdup we have right now in the situation that we’re in is that in the plans the architect wanted, [he] estimated a 250-occupant load, which I believe, even with a fire alarm and sprinkler system, is a lot for that building. So, following the code, what we decided to do was to take the building down to a maximum of 99 [people], with no tables or chairs.”

Oliver said new plans for the building would leave tables and chairs out of the lodge, which would allow 99 people. If the building does include tables and chairs, the maximum occupancy would be 80 people.

“So, if we install a fire alarm system in that building and take that building to an A-2 officially, with the variance on the sprinkler system, that gives you folks and the County Parks Department a lot more leeway with what that building can be used for. We can increase that occupancy load in that building to over a hundred,” he said.

Oliver said that move would cater to the various special events that people would potentially want to hold at the venue, such as weddings, family reunions, ski tournaments and more.

“If we don’t install an alarm system, my recommendation would be that we leave the occupancy loaded at a total of 99 for special events and then, basically, if you have a wedding request or if we know there’s going to be a ski tournament or something, we can work with those individual groups on, basically, special permission to use the building and to use the kitchen area,” he said.

Oliver added that a colleague of his was already in the process of getting some quotes on fire alarm systems. He also said he didn’t think this issue would hold up the occupancy or the use of the building.

“One of my concerns with this is the location of the building and what’s going on in the industry right now, is we’re seeing buildings in areas like that, if they’re not protected, they’re canceling insurance on them. So that was one of the intents I had with it — ‘Hey, let’s put a hood system in it; we’ll put a notification alarm system in it.’ And that helped me with the intent of the code,” he said.

Commission chairman Dave North asked if the building could be reclassified as A-3 if during an event there aren’t tables or chairs in the building and food is not being served.

Oliver said no.

“On a building, when you get the occupancy certificate to occupy the building, there has to be something in stone on that,” he said. “So, officially, with the kitchen in there, we need to determine whether we’re going to occupy that building permanently as an A-3 or permanently as an A-2.”

A-2 is more restrictive, he said, and if the county wanted to use the building for anything that was less restrictive, it could. Things like worship services, art shows, book readings and events of that nature would be within the realm of possibility.

“We’d just have to really look at that and make sure the rules on the rental agreement, or something, show that one person that’s in charge would have to be basically what is called a fire watch,” Oliver said. “That person is responsible for … staying sober, paying attention to everything that is going on, and notifying the occupants if something does happen and they have to evacuate the building.”

Commissioner Peter Nicolaysen asked if Oliver’s department had any text messages, emails or other documentation from the previous year regarding the fire alarm and sprinkler system.

“[I ask] because the architect has indicated something a little differently,” Nicolaysen said.

Oliver said he did have the Open Gov program, which is what the county uses for its permitting. He said the program is where contractors, architects and anybody else involved with a given project submit all of their plans.

“I did the plan review for this building,” Oliver said, “and my comments were that I approved the plans as submitted, ‘Please add a type-K fire extinguisher for the kitchen area, building plans, show fire alarm notification devices. Please submit fire alarm plans for approval.’ And then I didn’t hear anything back.”

Nicolaysen asked if Oliver followed up with anybody after not hearing back, and Oliver said he did not.

“The original plans I reviewed had fire alarm components listed in the legend of the electrical diagrams,” Oliver told Oil City News. “To me, this indicated the fire alarm system was being installed. I approved the plans as submitted and asked for a copy of the fire alarm plans so I could get those reviewed and approved as fire alarms and fire sprinkler systems usually have their own set of plans that have to be reviewed separate from the building plans.”

Natrona County Parks Director Michael Brown spoke at the meeting as well, and said that he received an estimate from an electrician who could install the fire alarm and sprinkler system at a cost of between $17,000 and $20,000.

Both Brown and Oliver said personnel changes and more contributed to the fire alarm system not being followed through with. Oliver also stated that, at the behest of the county’s previous building official, he and his team were “not allowed to talk to the architects or contractors; when I did comments and plan reviews, they had to be internal notes that went directly to Pat [Virrill].”

“I know we’ve got other things to do today, but it still sounds like a lot of finger pointing,” Nicolaysen said. “At the end of the day, this commission is being asked to come up with some money that we weren’t originally planning for. And it strikes me as being certainly disappointing that the finger pointing’s occurring and that, for some reason, something as significant as a fire alarm on a public building wasn’t considered and just kind of fell through the cracks, so that’s my point. And I guess we can address who pays for this at a later time.”

Oliver recommended the county still move forward with opening the Nordic Lodge as they figure out the semantics of the fire alarm.

“Let’s get the building open, let’s get folks in there using the building, let’s let Mike go through what he needs to go through with it,” Oliver said. “I say we keep the occupancy load where it is and use the building and at a certain point, in a year or two when the building’s been established and people know that it’s there, if we’re finding that we need a larger occupancy load, then maybe we can start searching for alternative funding options.”

Oliver said if funds aren’t available to put in the fire alarm system at this time, they could “take their time” and wait and see what, exactly, the building is used for.

Commissioner Dallas Laird disagreed.

“I’m only concerned with the present moment,” he said, “and I didn’t expect we’d have a building that we paid two and a half million dollars for to only host 99 people. And I don’t want to wait to put fire alarms in. I want to do it now because my experience so far has been, if it’s $20,000 now, it will be $30,000 next year. So I agree with Mr. Nicolaysen. I think he said he’d like to see the alarm system put in, and if that’s what he said, I agree with it and I’d do it right away.”

Commissioner Casey Coates called the matter “a safety issue” and North asked Oliver and Brown to bring some “hard estimates” to the board, after which they would move forward.

Later in the night, during the Commissioner Comments portion of the meeting, Laird brought up the issue once more and revealed a text message that a friend of his had sent regarding the matter.

“I’m going to read a text that was sent to me by a pretty knowledgeable fellow,” Laird said. “He was listening to the meeting and he said this: ‘No fire suppression or alarm system for a two-and-a-half-million-dollar building? Wow! Voters should be pissed.'”

Casper Mountain Ski History Archive Collection

Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore, Townsquare Media

Wyoming State Archive Photo Collection

Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore, TSM

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