City claims decades-old Cleveland fire inspections show safety in 2023: I-Team

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team requested recent fire safety violations in Cleveland, and we received records dating back 80 years.

As the I-Team has shown you, the city has no recent records of regular inspections of “maximum risk” buildings such as high-rises.

But now, consider what the city claimed would explain everything. We had filed a request for fire safety code violations found in 2023.

The city gave us five flash drives with hundreds of addresses and countless documents. However, we found almost all of the records dating back years and even decades — even to the 1940s and 1950s.

We also noticed some of the records were for buildings now vacant and closed up. For example, we went by one in Slavic Village, another on Payne Avenue, and another on Superior.

Last month, the I-Team challenged the safety director days before he resigned. He said the fire department doesn’t use the term “maximum risk” buildings, yet we found it on page one of a fire department policy.

Karrie Howard told us that we’d find records and answers on those flash drives.

“I just want to keep it clear and clean. Take a moment and look at that flash drive, and see if it answers your questions,” he said.

We took more than a moment. Actually, we spent hours checking records for 250 addresses.

The I-Team found some records from a few years ago. More records were from 20, 40 and 80 years ago. Even old drawings were tied to construction and permits.

We only found a handful of records from 2023. Those included violations at a warehouse tied to electric scooters and batteries, and violations at a high-rise apartment building after complaints.

Otherwise, there were no records tied to regular safety inspections outlined in fire department policy.

Last month, Howard also told us, if we didn’t find the records we wanted on those flash drives, we should go back to city hall.

But, Howard has resigned and the fire chief won’t talk to us on camera.

So, nobody from the city is telling us how your safety has anything to do with really old records and vacant buildings.

Last week, some city council members told us they also plan to investigate what’s being done and not done with fire inspections. We plan to ask more questions, too.