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Craig — Craig Fire/Rescue Chief Bill Johnston said he no longer thinks the community needs a fire marshal.

The Craig Rural Fire Protection District has the authority to inspect all structures within its borders already, said Tim Gablehouse, a Colorado attorney with a specialty in building code enforcement.

At an intergovernmental meeting Tuesday night at Craig City Hall, representatives from the city, county, Craig Police Department and Moffat County Sheriff's Office originally thought they would hear more about the need to hire a fire marshal.

As Johnston put it from the start, however, the fire department and fire district board have "been turned around 180 degrees on this."

Fire officials believed an appointed fire marshal was necessary to enforce fire code provisions and safety hazards.

This is not the case, Gablehouse said.

"Anybody within the Fire Department can conduct inspections provided they have the credentials," he said. "The county or the city can't tell the fire district - it being an independent body - what to do and what not to do to regulate fire safety."

Johnston wanted to make clear, though, this newfound information would not be used to begin randomly inspecting every business and home close to the city limits.

"The way we're doing it right now with the building departments is working fine," he said. "We're doing things right. Even if you think I'm lying, we don't have the personnel to do (random inspections), and we don't have the inclination to do that."

County Commissioner Tom Gray expressed concern that the fire district's discovered authority would add bureaucratic problems and costs for residents in the county. He asked whether county officials would have any oversight on fire district inspections.

"That was given away when the fire district was created" in 1921, Gablehouse said. "That horse is way out of the barn."

However, because the county already has approved the 2006 International Fire Code, it has a manual for the fire district to heed.

The only steps left to shore up any misunderstandings in the fire code, Gablehorse said, is for the fire district and city of Craig to adopt the same code.

Councilor Byron Willems, who also is president of the fire district board, said the fire district probably will approve the same code this year.

If the fire district board approves the code, the city would only need to pass a resolution approving the fire district's decision for the code to be applicable within city limits, Gablehorse said.

However, with the code, fire inspectors can issue citations for any issue they deem a violation, whether it is in the codes or not.

"But standard due process applies to all cases," Gablehorse said. A building owner "could appeal to a judge (or the Fire District Board) for any issue."

The Fire District Board is elected by the people, Gablehorse added, and therefore accountable for its actions.

Johnston said he doesn't envision anything about fire inspection operations to change, with one exception.

For years, he said, the fire department has done building inspections by owner request. In many cases, an insurance company demanded a new fire inspection before it would renew a policy on a structure.

After the fire district adopts a fire code, Johnston said his department will start charging a fee for all inspections.