NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Channel 3 I-Team has learned that some Connecticut fire marshals do not perform safety inspections of public schools once per year although it's required by the law.

When reviewing a school for fire safety, things such as sprinklers, fire alarms and fire extinguishers are often checked on a monthly or annual basis by companies the cities and towns contract out. However, more detailed inspections are required by state law to be conducted on a yearly basis.

Capt. Gary Bloomquist, the fire marshal of the West Shore Fire Department in West Haven, said he believes that he performs about as thorough a school fire safety inspection as anyone could do.

The I-Team went with Bloomquist to perform a re-inspection of Alma Pagels Elementary School.

"The exit lights are out," Bloomquist said. "That's an ongoing maintenance thing, that's something that needs to be checked periodically."

Although Bloomquist puts her on the hot seat, Alma Pagels' principal, Gina Prisco, appreciates such close attention to detail on a regular basis.

She said that she, like other administrators, know school fires can happen, like one in Hartford three years ago where there was an explosion, fire and mass evacuation.

"There's some things we don't always think of, those doors that stick, they have to be checked constantly. Because we may be stronger, but a 7- or 8-year-old needs to be able to just push on that pretty easily and get out," Prisco said.

Potential dangers discovered during school inspections county-wide include exposed wires, combustibles, and doors that do not open. Most parents assume that their children's schools are being inspected on a regular basis.

The I-Team found that in a number of communities have not taken place annually even though it's required by law. At the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Milford, there is no record of a full walk-through inspection since 1997.

The I-Team requested the most recent school fire safety inspection records of virtually every public school in New Haven County, and found three departments that said they don't have the manpower to get the work done in the schools once per year. Those departments include Derby, Milford and New Haven.

New Haven Fire Marshal Joseph Cappucci admitted that his office has fallen behind. He blamed having a depleted staff that he hasn't been able to replace, partially due to budget reasons.

"I had a staff of 11. I have two full-time and two part-time (members) at this time," he said.

Cappucci said in 2003 three of his positions were taken out of the city budget. In 2006, he began writing letters to the city asking for help. Then this past July, he lost four staffers to retirements.

The I-Team discovered that one-third of the Elm City's public schools have not received fire safety inspections in the past two years, with some going back as far as six years.

"I'm not comfortable with that," Cappucci said. "We have a lot of risk there, there's a lot of liability there, especially around children."

One town away from New Haven, Bloomquist said he realizes his office is fortunate it can conduct school inspections yearly, and said that someone needs to help the departments that cannot get the job done.

"Prevention is our ultimate goal," he said. "Anybody can respond to emergencies, that's what the guys up the street with the big trucks do -- they respond to emergencies. My job is to prevent them from occurring, and especially in our schools."

One of the problems, according to the fire marshals, is that state law as it's currently written, requires them to check a huge percentage of buildings in a town or city every year. Currently, there are efforts being made to scale back that law a little bit.

The New Haven fire marshal did say that the city has allowed him to post an opening for at least one new fire safety inspector.

Milford Fire Marshal Lee Cooke said that the reason why the schools in his town have not been thoroughly inspected on an annual basis is simple -- turnover.

Cooke said he has been fire marshal in the town for 10 years, during which time the town has seen tremendous growth. For that whole period, Cooke said his budgeted staff has stayed at three inspectors as well as himself. He said that often during this period, he has not even had three inspectors under him because of retirements and similar circumstances.

With the town growing as much as it did over the past five to six years before the economy slowed, Cooke said he and his staff were taxed tremendously by all the inspections of new buildings going up in town, and said that it "really chews into time."

Cooke said currently his staff is back up to three inspectors, and that one of them just graduated from training school. He said that it takes six months to get an inspector certified, followed by a two-to-three year learning curve before an inspector is truly up to speed.

Cooke said that he believes he and his staff will be able to inspect Milford schools during the holiday break in December and that "whatever we don't get to, we'll do in the spring."

Derby Fire Marshal Philip Hawks echoed the comments of Cooke. He said he tries to get to the schools every 18 to 24 months, but because of staffing and the number of buildings that his office must inspect, that's the most often he can hope to do a detailed inspection of the schools.

PDF: Fire Marshals Comment On Inspections

PDF: List Of New Haven County School Inspections