These documents were supplied to barn venue or wedding venue owners over the last couple years near Saint Paul, Minneapolis or Statewide. Those that fail to comply by the State Fire Marshal should be shut down until brought into compliance. Yes, a sprinkler system is required for over 100 people serving alcohol. Sorry, that is the National law adopted by the State due to hotel and night club fires to prevent loss of life. These venues are no longer agriculture buildings and are now zoned A-2 - Assembly Areas to consume Food and Drink.
In the February 2018 State Fire Marshal Update - The SFMD estimates that less than 1 percent of the estimated 100+ converted sites in Minnesota have met the state’s building and fire codes (after being reviewed by local building code officials).
In February 2020, the SFMD randomly inspected 7 venues and they all failed! In May 2020, the SFMD finished the random inspections of 11 venues and found 99 violations! Why is this okay and why isn't something being done about it! Please see below. Bear in mind the SFMD does not perform a measurement of the venue to determine the maximum occupancy. This is required of a State licensed architect in their code analysis and by the local Building Official. This is not happening on 99% of the barn venues. Here are some examples:
(If tables and chairs are not bolted down and can be moved, worst case scenario you have to use 7sqft per person and not 15sqft per person.)
Most barns are around 2,000 square feet. Divide this by 7sqft per person equals an occupant load of 285 people.
A leader with MN-REVA Adam with the Bloom Lake Barn is attempting to avoid a fire sprinkler system. His barn is approximately 9,000 sqft divided by 7sqft per person is a maximum load of 1,285 people. Even if you use 15sqft per person that is still a load of 600 people. Yet the sign on the wall arbitrarily states 298. Why? So they don't have to install a fire sprinkler system in an Assembly A-3 of greater than 300 persons. However, the State of Minnesota states barn venues are Assembly A-2 and require a fire sprinkler system of over 5,000 sqft or more than 100 persons. That is just simply WRONG!
With fires occurring randomly across the State of Minnesota with casualties, you would think the State Fire Marshal would want to protect you. Their number one job/priority in the State is to protect the citizens.
2007AssemOccupInfoSheet (pdf)
Download2016 - MN State Fire Marshal - Barns, Bars and More (pdf)
Download2017 DoLI Fact Sheet for Wedding Barns (pdf)
Download2018-February-State-Fire-Marshal-Update (pdf)
Download2018 DPS - Fire Marshal Letter (pdf)
Download2018 Self Inspection Checklist (pdf)
Download2018-February-State-Fire-Marshal-Update (pdf)
Download2018 May - SFM Information Sheet (pdf)
Download2019 DPS - Fire Marshal Letter (pdf)
Download2019 DPS - Fire Marshal Wedding Barn Survey - 2nd Cover Letter (pdf)
Download2019 - SFM Event Center Address Mailing List (pdf)
Download2019-12-12 - Hope Glen Farm Solicitation from MNREVA (pdf)
Download2020-02-12 - DOLI Letter on Hope Glen Farm (pdf)
Download2020-02-25 - Letter to Sen Bigham with 7 venues inspected (pdf)
Download2020-May-State-Fire-Marshal-Wedding-Venue-Report (pdf)
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