Judge Pauses Fire Marshal Order Related to City Walk Homeless Shelter

On March 27^th, the non-profit organization City Walk Urban Mission filed a complaint against the City of Tallahassee and the Tallahassee Fire Department’s Fire Marshal to prevent them from enforcing an order to vacate residents from the homeless shelter due to fire code violations.

City Walk was first notified of the fire code violation in November when TFD discovered they did not have a functioning sprinkler system and on February 27^th, Jason R. Greisl sent City Walk a letter ordering the organization to have a “Fire Watch”.

A fire watch is the action of an on-site person designated by the property owner or their agent meeting the approval of the Fire Marshal, whose responsibilities include continually monitoring the property for fire.

City Walk claimed to have initiated the fire watch provisions.

On March 24^th, Fire Marshal Jason R. Greisl sent a letter to City Walk ordering the organization to end their dormitory or temporary residence operations. Residents were forced to vacate the facility by March 27^th, which led to approximately thirty people without overnight accommodations.

A day after the residents vacated City Walk, the organization learned the order would be paused until at least the court date of April 11^th, allowing overnight stays.

Before the organization learned about the pause in the order, Pastor Renee Miller spoke to WCTV, advising that the organization did the best they could to make accommodations for the homeless. Cots and tents were located in the parking lot for the residents to sleep on. Ms. Miller stated, “People still have access to their things. They’re just not allowed to sleep inside.”  She continued, “We have a lot of fire protections set in place, which have always passed inspection, so it’s really not a matter of life safety. There’s something more to it.”