The Citrus Heights building department hosted a Thursday kick-off event in order to raise awareness to Building Safety Month, an international effort which seeks to improve building safety through education during the month of May.
In addition to the city council passing a Building Safety Month proclamation, city officials were at work educating about building safety even before the month-long event began.
An April monthly meeting of the Citrus Heights Neighborhood Area 6 featured a visit from Chief Building Official Greg Anderson who discussed the purpose of Building Safety Month, and explained the “why’s” of building codes.
Although often thought of by homeowners as a nuisance to deal with, Anderson emphasized that his department’s codes have an underlying motivation of “safety first and foremost.”
Highlighting several examples, he offered a reason behind a code requiring buildings to be built no closer than five feet of a property line — explaining how fires can travel more easily from structure to structure when buildings are closer together.
Anderson also explained that Building Safety Month is divided into four separate weeks, with a focus on different aspects of building codes each week.
According to the International Code Council’s website, week one will focus on fire safety, followed by week two on disaster preparedness. The following week will focus on backyard safety, and the final week will close out the month with a slight shift away from building safety by focusing on energy efficiency.
Citrus Heights will also be hosting a few of its own building safety events throughout the month — and such efforts in the past helped Development Services Technician Susan McLendon earn the ICC’s 2013 “Raising the Profile” award.
The community is invited to kick off the start of week one at city hall with chips and salsa at 3 p.m. on May 5. There will also be a barbeque event to close out the month on May 29, but RSVP is required ahead of time.
Those interested in more information are invited to visit the Building Safety Month display inside Citrus Heights city hall, or call the Building Department General Information Line at (916) 727-4760.