Our main goal in the area of fire code enforcement is to provide property owners and tenants with the assistance, support and guidance they require to ensure compliance with national, state, and local fire and life safety regulations and codes. The Brewster Fire Prevention Bureau continually strives to provide excellent customer service and a high level of fire and life safety support to our residents. We accomplish this through providing excellent community based fire safety education programs, accurate enforcement of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts fire codes, and a willingness to foster effective working relationships with our residents and other individuals wishing to become part of the Brewster community.
Captain/EMT Peter Rubel is assigned as the supervisor/inspector of the Fire Prevention Bureau. He is responsible for completing all required fire inspections, building and smoke detector plan reviews, alarm system approvals, tank inspections, site plan reviews, and fire investigations. His office is located at Fire Headquarters at 1657 Main Street. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. In order to enhance the customer services we offer the community Captain Rubel has reserved the hours between 8:00 am and 10:00 am each day to meet with the public to discuss fire prevention related issues or answer any inquiries. While walk-ins are acceptable, we highly recommend scheduling an appointment prior to visiting headquarters. In addition, residential inspections are completed on Tuesdays and Thursdays and should be scheduled at least one week in advance. The Fire Prevention Bureau may be reached by calling 508-896-7018. Captain Rubel can also be reached by email at prubel@town.brewster.ma.us
One of Captain Rubel’s other daily responsibilities includes responding to emergency calls as necessary. Therefore, instances of postponed or cancelled fire inspections may occur. Individuals requiring an update on a scheduled inspection may call fire headquarters at 508-896-7018.
Community Fire Safety Education
Captain Rubel is also responsible for the fire safety education programs employed by the department. He is skillfully assisted in the delivery of these sessions by Firefighter/Paramedic Glen Cefalo. “Firefighter Glen” as he is known to the community utilizes various national and state recognized curriculums that cover a variety of fire safety disciplines in a variety of age groups. His efforts range from visits to the local elementary schools to instruct our youth on the basics of fire safety such as “Crawl Low in Smoke”, “Stop, Drop, Roll”, “Exit Drills in the Home”, and emergency 911 calls to instructing our senior population on cooking safety, and the use of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors within the home.
Firefighter/Paramedic Cefalo and other members of our department are available to present fire safety education programs to local groups as requested. To ensure continuity of these requests interested groups may call 508-896-7018 Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 3:00 pm to speak with Fire Chief Robert Moran or Captain Rubel to schedule your next fire safety program.
At this time our Fire Prevention Bureau is in the process of completing a computer upgrade project that will provide our inspection team with the capability to utilize field based mobile technology to complete his fire inspections, enhance the bureaus recordkeeping capabilities, and improve the collection and dissemination of building pre-plan information.
Future fire safety education strategies to be initiated by our professional staff over the next year include the implementation of a residential fire safety check program, fire safety open house sessions, enhanced fire safety training for our senior population, the development of a middle school fire training curriculum, and the enrichment of our annual fire prevention week fire safety training syllabus.
The Fire Prevention Bureau looks forward to continuing our tradition of providing the community with effective fire code enforcement, quality fire safety education, and exceptional customer service.