Good.
Assisted living facilities and nursing homes in the unincorporated areas of Harris County now are required to install backup power generators to keep heating and cooling systems operational during electrical outages, making the county among the first in Texas to implement such a mandate.
The mandate, included in the county’s revamped fire code, comes after the derecho in May, followed by Hurricane Beryl in July, that left more than 2 million households and businesses without power during sweltering temperatures. During the hurricane, at least 14 nursing homes and 30 assisted living facilities in Harris County lost power for multiple days.
“This is for all of our families, whether it’s our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents, all of us. We’re all aging, and this could be us,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones said at a Wednesday news conference to announce the new requirement.
At least 120 facilities throughout unincorporated Harris County will be required to have secondary power systems that switch on within three hours after an initial power loss. The updated code also requires facilities to implement emergency communication systems for rapid response, provide power for essential medical equipment and secure evacuation measures through powered doors and elevators.
Briones proposed the mandate be added to the county fire code at Commissioners Court’s Nov. 12 meeting. It passed unanimously.
Wednesday’s announcement sent at least one statewide association of assisted living facilities scrambling for answers.
Carmen Tilton, Vice President of Public Policy at the Texas Assisted Living Association, said that she did not learn about fire code change until it was enacted Jan. 1.
She said the association has been trying to find out details about the changes — the most she has heard from Harris County officials was at Briones’ news conference touting the mandate — and the organization already is fielding questions from assisted living facilities that are impacted.
“I wish we had been brought in on these conversations because I think we could have helped,” she said. “Right now, I have a whole lot more questions and answers.”
County officials said facilities will have until Jan. 1, 2026, to comply with the new requirements, which they said they hoped will be enough time to prepare and implement changes.
Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said she recognized there likely will need to be some flexibility with that date because some facilities could face delays securing permits or generators.
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Christensen said her team, along with other local officials and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services will collaborate to notify and educate facilities about the new backup power requirement. She added she is cognizant the new regulation likely will come with a steep price tag.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission in 2021 estimated the cost of installing a new generator capable of supporting certain air temperatures could range from $20,000 for a new and smaller facility to $720,000 or more for an older and larger facility, according to the Texas Tribune.
The fire marshal’s office already conducts annual inspections on nursing homes and assisted living facilities to ensure they are in compliance with state regulations for their licenses, making the new mandate “another box we need to check,” Christensen said.
A failure to comply with the new requirement could result in citations, but Christensen said the fire marshal’s office likely will try to steer facilities toward compliance.
“When you look at our fire code, a lot of people think of it as enforcement,” Christensen said. “It’s not about enforcement — it’s about education. Our goal is to prevent a fatality before it happens, whether it be by fire, heat or cold.”
There’s more, and there are some nuances to all of this, including what defines different types of facilities, so read the rest. I think this is a good approach, with the right goal of getting the facilities in question to comply by making sure they know what they need to do. I’ll be very interested to see where we are at this time next year. Note that this mandate is for unincorporated Harris County, not for within Houston city limits. Mayor Whitmire had a lot to say about the senior-living apartments in the city after several of them had issues during the derecho, but as yet there has been no action on the city’s part to do anything about it. Hopefully that’s on his agenda for this year. The Chron has more.