Church shelters in line for reprieve

With cold weather fast approaching, state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said, the amendment to regulations covering public facilities would go into effect immediately if approved by public safety oversight boards, rather than having to undergo the usual period of review and revision. The emergency exemption would cover shelters set up in places of worship across the state.

For the Plymouth Task Force for the Homeless, the amendment is welcome news. The coalition is in its sixth year of providing a shelter for adult men, averaging about a dozen visitors a night, with seven churches in town taking turns hosting the program. Task force president Connie Melahoures said there were nights last winter when the churches, only one of which has a fire-suppression sprinkler system, sheltered up to 18 men, and she expects the need to soar this season.

“The number in Plymouth keeps growing, even though some have been taken off the street and put in permanent housing,’’ Melahoures said. “Most people will come in with the right support,’’ she said, but “there are some who find it difficult to do that. Those remain hard to get off the street. We need to provide shelter somehow to those guys.’’

Coan said he expects the state’s public safety boards to act on the amendment early next month. “The unfortunate economic times make it even more important that we deal with this in an immediate way,’’ he said.

The compliance issue in churches hosting shelters surfaced last February, when Coan’s office notified fire chiefs statewide that buildings used as over night shelters were required to have automatic sprinkler systems and other safety upgrades. The fire marshal’s office said that the churches, by adding the overnight component, had shifted their classification from “places of assembly’’ to boarding houses.

The Plymouth task force said it could not meet the sprinkler requirement, based on the costs involved in retrofitting the church buildings, and the shelter program was in jeopardy after the group had trouble finding alternative places to host it.

Coan said Plymouth Fire Chief Ed Bradley contacted him over the summer to explain the coalition’s dilemma. “I pledged that I would see what could be done,’’ Coan said.

The result is the emergency draft now on the table.

The amendment would allow “legally recognized places of worship’’ to offer “temporary emergency shelter to adults’’ for a specific number of nights each year, as long as certain safety requirements are met.

“We want it fairly narrow, so somebody can’t come in and open a bed and breakfast and say they’re offering shelter,’’ Bradley said of the wording. “There’s always someone out there who wants to take advantage.’’

The amendment’s safety requirements include putting in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and keeping the local fire department informed of the place in use.

The church-based shelters must also post a list of the people staying there each night on an outside door, so police or fire personnel would know how many to look for in an emergency. And the facilities must be overseen at night by trained individuals over 21 years old.

The building safety code requires two clutter-free egresses, emergency lighting, and the submission of a site plan showing the layout of furniture. Health requirements include spacing the cots no closer than 3 feet, and providing sanitary facilities and laundered bedding.

“In a perfect world, I’d like to see all these churches have sprinklers, but the churches don’t, and the homeless need shelter,’’ Coan said.

There is still concern among some fire officials, who say the amendment simply shifts a vulnerable population from one dangerous situation to another.

“We’re not saying the homeless should stay outside and freeze, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do this,’’ said Ware Fire Chief Thomas Coulombe, president of the Massachusetts Fire Chiefs Association. “I spent six years on the state Sprinkler Appeals Board, and I wouldn’t support this at all. I think they should require sprinklers.’’

But Coulombe also said he understands the need for quick implementation of the change. “There’s no way the Fire Chiefs Association and the church homeless shelters can hash it out this winter, but we hope to make the amendment have an end date of maybe next June,’’ he said.

State officials say while the draft has no end date, it most likely will have one by the time its final version is approved.

While Melahoures wants to start her group’s program by the start of next month, Bradley says it may have to wait a few additional weeks, while the amendment goes through the approval process, and local health, building, and fire inspectors check out the church buildings.

It’s a timely move, and appropriate for the circumstances, say advocates for the homeless.

John Yazwinski, chief executive officer of Father Bill’s Place in Quincy and Brockton’s MainSpring Coalition for the Homeless, said the poor economy is putting large numbers on the street.

“I completely understand the concern of public safety officials, but at the same time I’m at least temporarily happy that people can get indoors in the Plymouth community this winter,’’ he said. “We’re seeing record numbers, so we’ve had to order more beds and increase our occupancy ability. MainSpring is funded for 51 beds and we already have over 85 people, and Father Bill’s is funded for 75 beds and we have over 120.’’

While the Father Bill’s and MainSpring shelters have automatic sprinklers and other required safety upgrades, Yazwinski said, his organization may have to look at other places in area communities to provide some temporary shelters this winter.

Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.