Eric A. Neilinger, Petitioner.; Miami Dade county fire appeal board excludes licensed fire alarm contractors from appealing rejections of plans or installation. Pursuant to their submittal for appeal the following is extracted from their process: It ...

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
Division of State Fire Marshal

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT the Department of Financial Services, Division of State Fire Marshal, has received the petition for declaratory statement from Eric A. Neilinger, Petitioner.The petition seeks the agency's opinion as to the applicability of Florida Fire Prevention Code 2007 edition NFPA 1 section 1.10.9.1, as it applies to the petitioner.
Miami Dade county fire appeal board excludes licensed fire alarm contractors from appealing rejections of plans or installation. Pursuant to their submittal for appeal the following is extracted from their process: It is required that the application be filed by the owners of the property which is the subject of the application, the owner or attorney must be present at the hearing. This is in direct conflict with the FFPC, not allowing due process for all effected people. As a licensed fire alarm contractor, we design and build systems based on code requirements. It is our responsibility to the owners to install a code compliant system. When AHJs ask for more than the code required that is clearly documented, we must be able to have an avenue to appeal this process without having to go directly to the state. State Fire Marshal requires a local appeal process to be used prior to appealing to the state Fire Marshal office. Question: Can the local Fire Appeals board exclude other affected parties from the local appeal process, and can the locally affected party, in this case a licensed fire alarm contractor bypass the local board and submit the state for a declaratory statement.
A copy of the Petition for Declaratory Statement may be obtained by contacting: Lesley Mendelson, Assistant General Counsel, 200 East Gaines Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0340, [phone] or [phone]; Fax: [phone] or [phone] (please advise if you would like it mailed or faxed to you and please include your phone number on your request in case any question arises), or by e-mail: [e-mail].