Beckley Fire Department to relaunch enforcement of certificates of occupancy
BECKLEY — A renewed initiative at the Beckley Fire Prevention Bureau aims to prevent future tragedies and ensure all businesses meet modern safety standards.
While commercial businesses in Beckley have long been required to have a Certificate of Occupancy, Beckley Fire Marshal Christopher R. Graham said the bureau is getting ready to 'begin actively enforcing' the city's code.
Graham has prepared a letter he is going to give business owners that explains why having an up-to-date Certificate of Occupancy is important. 'This effort is aimed at ensuring the health and safety of all individuals who live in or visit buildings open to the public,' states the letter.
'A lot of times, people just get busy. Life happens, and they've been [busy], it's not been, they've not gotten one,' Graham said. 'So we really want to try and go back and make sure, hey, everybody has one.'
Graham works in tandem with Capt. Donald Morgan in the city's Code Enforcement Department to ensure commercial buildings are safe.
Graham conducts inspections, but so does Morgan.
'Where I'm fire marshal, we will do an inspection, check if it needs a fire alarm or fire extinguishers, make sure the exit emergency lighting is ready,' Graham said.
Then, the baton is passed to Code Enforcement.
'Code Enforcement comes in and they make sure the building is structurally sound — the electrical, the plumbing, items like that — are correct,' Graham continued. 'So, it's kind of a team effort to make sure the buildings are safe before the public can go into them or they're occupied by employees.'
When asked if there was a recent incident in the city that sparked the new initiative, Graham said he wanted to remain positive.
By issuing the letter and conducting a fairly public campaign to inform commercial business owners, Graham said his hope is that people will come forward and ask for a free inspection from him and Morgan.
'We want to enforce it. We're going to give people time,' Graham said.
Graham said that if a safety issue is identified during an investigation, they can give the business owner enough time to correct the issue before issuing a citation.
'Then we say, hey, hold up. We need to address this before we can open,' he said. 'Our goal is not to shut anybody down or hinder anyone from having a business. But these items need to be checked to make sure that it's safe to open.'
However, in the event a business does not comply once a safety issue is identified regarding electrical, plumbing and structural components of a business, there is an enforcement component of Beckley City Code they can use. Fines for noncompliance run $10-$300.
'Now that part is new,' Graham said. 'And before we would just go and say, 'Hey, can you do this?' 'Hey, can you do this?' But now we can actually run it through court, and they can explain to the judge why they're not doing it, maybe, or something like that. And those are usually extreme circumstances.'
Graham said that 90-95% of the time, business owners comply because they have made such a huge investment and want to own and operate their business.
'After a reasonable correction period, if violations remain unresolved, a citation may be issued, requiring the owner or occupant to appear before the Municipal Court, where additional fines may be imposed,' states the letter.
But Graham said he hopes businesses come forward and few fines have to be levied. He also hopes his phone starts ringing so he can schedule more free business safety inspections and get more Certificates of Occupancy completed.
'Our goal is not to hurt anybody or cost them a lot of money,' Graham said. 'We just really want to make the building safe and bring them up to code.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Hawks on Reportedly Verge of Making Major Announcement in Latest NBA News
Hawks on Reportedly Verge of Making Major Announcement in Latest NBA News originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Atlanta Hawks made some strides this season despite not making the playoffs for the second straight season. They were able to develop their young talent, as Dyson Daniels became one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and also won the Most Improved Award. Zaccharie Risacher continued to grow throughout the season, and his future looks bright. Advertisement This offseason will be crucial for the Hawks if they want to continue to improve, and they've been trying to find a president of basketball operations to work alongside new general manager Onsi Saleh to help with the process. Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder on the bench against the Miami Heat during the second half at State Farm Zanine-Imagn Images On Monday, ESPN's Shams Charania announced that the Hawks had made two key hires for their front office. "The Atlanta Hawks and new General Manager Onsi Saleh are finalizing deals to hire New Orleans Pelicans GM Bryson Graham as the team's Senior VP of Basketball Operations and Philadelphia 76ers executive Peter Dinwiddie as Senior VP of Strategy and Analytics, sources tell ESPN," Charania wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Graham started as an intern for the Pelicans and worked his way up to the GM role, where he helped draft players such as Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado and others. He also helped draft Daniels, who was with the Pelicans until he got traded to the Hawks last offseason. Advertisement Dinwiddie has worked with the Philadelphia 76ers front office since 2020 and spent 14 seasons with the Indiana Pacers. Both Graham and Dinwiddie are set to report to Saleh as part of the Hawks' new front office structure. Related: New NBA Trade Rumor Emerges for 76ers This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
'Fully justified': Graham plows ahead with Trump border funding despite Paul's objections
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Lindsey Graham is pushing forward to fund President Donald Trump's border security agenda despite objections from a key Senate Republican who wants to cut the spending in half. The South Carolina Republican, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, unveiled the Senate's plan to fund the president's border security desires, with billions of dollars slated to go toward building a wall at the Southern border, beefing up Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) detention capacity and hiring more Border Patrol Agents, among others. Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Cracks Down On Biden's Student Loan 'Scheme,' Top Republican Says But Graham's decision to plow ahead with the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee's $128.4 billion bill, which funds the lion's share of the administration's border security request, comes after the committee's chair, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., proposed to cut half the funding baked into the House GOP's bill. Paul's concerns mobilized White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller to hold a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Thursday to justify the price tag. "As Budget Chairman, I will do my best to ensure that the President's border security plan is fully funded because I believe it has been fully justified," Graham said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "I respectfully disagree with Chairman Paul's proposal to cut the Trump plan by more than 50 percent." Read On The Fox News App "The President promised to secure our border," he continued. "His plan fulfills that promise. The Senate must do our part." The Homeland Security Committee accounts for the bulk of the White House's $150 billion request, but not all. The remaining money is expected to come from the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees. Trump Ally Stands Firm Against 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Despite Pressure: 'It'll Completely Backfire' Graham's bill, which closely mirrors the House GOP's version, includes $46.5 billion in funding to build the border wall and additional infrastructure, $4.1 billion to hire more border patrol agents, $2 billion for retention and signing bonuses for the new agents, $5 billion to improve border patrol facilities and $855 million to repair the Border Patrol's vehicle fleet. The measure also includes $45 billion to beef up ICE's detention capacity, $6 billion to improve border surveillance, $6 billion to the Department of Homeland Security to "ensure adequate funding for border security across the board" and $10 billion in grant funding to reimburse states for border security efforts during the Biden years. Paul, who did not attend Miller's meeting with Senate Republicans, said the White House "threw a number at the wall to see what would stick" and that certain line items, like the tens of billions for border wall construction, could be drastically reduced to roughly $6.5 billion when breaking down the cost of construction per mile. He presented his number to the Senate GOP on Wednesday and noted that there were "half a dozen senators" who agreed with him. When asked why Graham and the leadership opted to skip over him as chair of the committee to release the text of the bill, he said "because they disagree with me." "I think Sen. Graham's job, as he sees it, is to do what the president tells him to do, and my job is to do what I think is fiscally most responsible," he said. "And so we just have different agendas." Senate Republicans are in the midst of producing their version of the House GOP's "big, beautiful bill." They're using the budget reconciliation process to pass a sweeping bill advancing Trump's agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. They are also working to use it to bring down the national debt – nearing $37 trillion – with the aim of cutting $1.5 trillion in federal spending. National Debt Tracker: American Taxpayers (You) Are Now On The Hook For $36,213,572,785,415.03 As Of 6/11/25 But whatever comes from the Senate has to pass muster with the House before making its way to Trump's desk. And Miller's meeting with the Senate GOP was meant to shore up support behind the funding detailed in the House's bill and answer lingering concerns from fiscal hawks who are trying to find ways to further cut spending in the reconciliation process. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., lauded Miller after the meeting but noted that there were some lawmakers who "were upset, and some that just didn't want to hear." "I mean, Rand Paul's solution is to cut everything in half and call it good," he said. "That's not real budgeting." Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said there was "a little frustration" from some lawmakers who wanted to see a spreadsheet of the funding. He dismissed the notion that the meeting became tense and said "there's no way to precisely calculate what the administration is going to need" to clean up the "enormous mess" left by the Biden administration. "If anything, we maybe ought to need more. It's such a big problem," Johnson said. "I don't think we're going to move the number up, but we're not going to shortchange it." "This is a mess we have to clean up," he said. "It's going to cost a lot of money, and we want to make sure this administration has the money to clean up."Original article source: 'Fully justified': Graham plows ahead with Trump border funding despite Paul's objections
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Beckley Fire Department to relaunch enforcement of certificates of occupancy
BECKLEY — A renewed initiative at the Beckley Fire Prevention Bureau aims to prevent future tragedies and ensure all businesses meet modern safety standards. While commercial businesses in Beckley have long been required to have a Certificate of Occupancy, Beckley Fire Marshal Christopher R. Graham said the bureau is getting ready to 'begin actively enforcing' the city's code. Graham has prepared a letter he is going to give business owners that explains why having an up-to-date Certificate of Occupancy is important. 'This effort is aimed at ensuring the health and safety of all individuals who live in or visit buildings open to the public,' states the letter. 'A lot of times, people just get busy. Life happens, and they've been [busy], it's not been, they've not gotten one,' Graham said. 'So we really want to try and go back and make sure, hey, everybody has one.' Graham works in tandem with Capt. Donald Morgan in the city's Code Enforcement Department to ensure commercial buildings are safe. Graham conducts inspections, but so does Morgan. 'Where I'm fire marshal, we will do an inspection, check if it needs a fire alarm or fire extinguishers, make sure the exit emergency lighting is ready,' Graham said. Then, the baton is passed to Code Enforcement. 'Code Enforcement comes in and they make sure the building is structurally sound — the electrical, the plumbing, items like that — are correct,' Graham continued. 'So, it's kind of a team effort to make sure the buildings are safe before the public can go into them or they're occupied by employees.' When asked if there was a recent incident in the city that sparked the new initiative, Graham said he wanted to remain positive. By issuing the letter and conducting a fairly public campaign to inform commercial business owners, Graham said his hope is that people will come forward and ask for a free inspection from him and Morgan. 'We want to enforce it. We're going to give people time,' Graham said. Graham said that if a safety issue is identified during an investigation, they can give the business owner enough time to correct the issue before issuing a citation. 'Then we say, hey, hold up. We need to address this before we can open,' he said. 'Our goal is not to shut anybody down or hinder anyone from having a business. But these items need to be checked to make sure that it's safe to open.' However, in the event a business does not comply once a safety issue is identified regarding electrical, plumbing and structural components of a business, there is an enforcement component of Beckley City Code they can use. Fines for noncompliance run $10-$300. 'Now that part is new,' Graham said. 'And before we would just go and say, 'Hey, can you do this?' 'Hey, can you do this?' But now we can actually run it through court, and they can explain to the judge why they're not doing it, maybe, or something like that. And those are usually extreme circumstances.' Graham said that 90-95% of the time, business owners comply because they have made such a huge investment and want to own and operate their business. 'After a reasonable correction period, if violations remain unresolved, a citation may be issued, requiring the owner or occupant to appear before the Municipal Court, where additional fines may be imposed,' states the letter. But Graham said he hopes businesses come forward and few fines have to be levied. He also hopes his phone starts ringing so he can schedule more free business safety inspections and get more Certificates of Occupancy completed. 'Our goal is not to hurt anybody or cost them a lot of money,' Graham said. 'We just really want to make the building safe and bring them up to code.'
