Vermont fire safety officials tell committee complaint‑driven STR inspections strain resources
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Summary
Division of Fire Safety officials told the House General and Housing Committee that inspections are complaint‑driven, staffing is limited, and most fire fatalities occur in single‑family homes — a reality that shapes the Division’s priorities on short‑term rentals and proposed energy‑efficiency enforcement.
The House General and Housing Committee heard testimony on Jan. 15 from officials at the Division of Fire Safety on the state’s approach to building permits, rental housing health and safety, and short‑term rental inspections. Mike Terrell, director of the Division of Fire Safety, told the committee the Division carries out plan review and permitting for public buildings, enforces rental housing health and safety rules that took effect Jan. 1, 2024, and provides statewide firefighter training and specialty teams.
Terrell said the Division’s housing enforcement work is complaint‑driven. "There is no, proactive inspections on any housing, whether short term or long term," he said, describing the Division’s current practice of responding to tenant or third‑party complaints rather than running routine site visits. He said the Division has handled roughly 875 complaints since the new residential health and safety rules began and that those complaints have resulted in about 1,400 building inspections division‑wide.
Why it matters: committee members pressed on whether short‑term rental operators and guests should receive clearer notice about how to file safety complaints. Terrell said the Division plans outreach and online resources for short‑term rental platforms and operators but cautioned that checklists can be long and that a simple self‑inspection form can create complacency.
The Division described how it classifies occupancies and applies codes: Vermont’s rules raised a bed‑and‑breakfast threshold to eight guests so small operators can follow single‑family standards, while facilities with 9–16 guests are treated as rooming and lodging with more stringent rules. Terrell warned that many short‑term rentals are converted single‑family homes and that "Most our fire fatalities are in single family owner occupied homes," which he said directs the Division’s enforcement priorities.
Jurisdictional questions also came up. Terrell clarified that transient lodging such as hotels generally falls under the Department of Health, while short‑term rentals are within the Division of Fire Safety’s enforcement scope. He noted the Division has nine inspection agreements with municipalities — some limited to existing housing, others covering plan review and permitting — and that the Division is reluctant to cede plan‑review authority because permit fee revenue offsets program costs.
On capacity, Terrell said the Division currently staffs roughly 16 fire marshals, four residential health and safety inspectors, three plumbing inspectors and eight electrical inspectors; the Legislature authorized five additional positions to help carry new responsibilities. He told the committee the Division is implementing a new records management system (RMS) that should improve tracking of complaints, response times and provide read‑only dashboards for operators when it goes live.
Energy‑efficiency enforcement surfaced as a point of contention. Committee members described bills that would assign code and energy requirements to a state authority; Terrell said the Division lacks subject matter expertise and opposed expanding enforcement into single‑family owner‑occupied homes, arguing that adding such responsibilities could delay permits and strain contractor capacity.
Terrell said the Division’s near‑term priorities are public education, clearer online guidance for operators and completing its RMS upgrade so the Division can better track performance and inspection outcomes. The committee broke for scheduling and planned further testimony later in the hearing schedule.
