He’s there to save lives, protect property, and lower risk of costlier insurance claims for building owners.

Stephen Yonkin, fire inspector with the Williamsport Bureau of Fire, is on the job — whether it’s checking a sprinkler system, a fire alarm function or educating folks who want to learn how fire works.

He has been a provisional Fire Inspector since May 2024 and had been officially promoted earlier this month, as the fire inspector.

Because of this work, those in the City of Williamsport with whom he comes into contact are safer these days because of his efforts.

Yonkin recently sat down with the Sun-Gazette staff to share what his role is and how it can spare property owners headaches and make both of the public and fellow firefighters and other public safety personnel safer. His role as educator also helps all ages in the community on fire prevention and to reduce liability.

Life safety a priority

A firefighter for over the past five years, Yonkin’s role of fire inspector has covered two of those years.

“My role, specifically, is that I am to go out to buildings and do inspections for life safety,” he said.

Yonkin’s primary role is to ensure buildings are safe by checking a list of items such as if there are functional sprinklers, working fire alarms, proper fire extinguishers, exit lighting and making sure that people can exit a building safely if there were ever any emergency.

Additionally, Yonkin spends time educating building and business owners about “how fire works” because, as he puts it, “not everyone is super familiar.”

Having the experience of being a firefighter has given Yonkin a unique ability to communicate to business owners about how they can keep their buildings safe.

“I know that sometimes when I show up they are like . . . ‘It’s the fire inspector,'” he said. “But you should feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions,” he added. “I may be able to advise you on ways that would make the building safer, keep people safer, and increase the safety in the building and help the owner be removed from any liability.”

Since the getgo, Yonkin expressed the strongest desire to prevent harmful situations.

“I am very interested in preventing tragedy,” he said. “I am very interested in preventing fires, but I am also interested in assisting business owners with keeping their buildings safe to remove them from liability in the event of an emergency,” he said.

As stated, one of those factors is for the buildings to have functioning sprinklers, fire alarm(s), and adhering to the International Fire Code that the city has adopted.

This is a big start in helping building owners to be “in a good position should they ever have to report to their insurance carrier/company,” Yonkin noted.

For about a decade, Williamsport did not have a fire inspector, so when the position became available, Yonkin acknowledged he was looking for a new challenge at the bureau, which can interchangeably be called the city fire department.

“I took on the role,” he said. Initially, Yonkin confessed to thinking it was going to be super easy, but he paused and laughed about that misinterpretation the job entailed.

“As I have continued to do this, I see so many small issues that have been overlooked for such a long time that by being fixed could help prevent tragedy, loss of life, and loss of property,” he explained.

“If 90 percent of my job is communicating with people about these simple, little fixes – I am there,” he said.

“I go home every day feeling good about what I’ve done,” he said, adding he “likes communication with people, talking with people and that it feels great knowing that he is contributing to a safer city.

In his role as fire inspector, Yonkin not only gets to protect the public but also his colleagues, firefighters that he works with every single day.

“They are basically my family,” he said, broadening that to looking out for the citizens, too.

Reflections

“Some of our buildings are just so big,” Yonkin said. Some are also older, but it is the bigger buildings that often have a lot of complex issues that come along, which can become barriers to easily fighting a fire in those facilities.

Williamsport Bureau of Fire is not a huge paid department.

“We can’t go ahead and hire 20 more people, so we are prepared for a big commercial building or hotel fire,” he said.

However, getting into these buildings ahead of time, helping to prevent the fires with proper inspections, can result in the bureau pointing out problems and mitigating what otherwise might become a tragic situation.

These inspections are not done solely on large commercial properties, but also such properties as vacant houses, which can result in (squatters or individuals) who might slip inside and take refuge and try to modify the interiors, looking for wiring and pipes, which can be used to turn a profit.

Sometimes, he said, in the middle of renovations there may be firefighters show up for an incident and there may be holes in the floors, or the structure may be weakened due to inclement weather permeating the interior. The lack of structural integrity can create circumstances that put firefighters’ lives in danger, he said.

If he gets to see a building that is not up to code or vacant or whatever the situation is he said he can pass that information on to the other firefighters and tell them of potential hazardous or dangerous structural deficiencies at these properties.

Moreover, he said, he and the bureau depend on the good citizens to communicate any kind of concerns they might have about houses or buildings they believe pose a risk to health, and safety and pass that information on.

Yonkin’s other cherished role is educational and reaching out to the youngsters in the city.

“It is super important that young citizens are exposed to public safety workers and know we are here for good and to do good things and keep them safe.” Yonkin said.

“Not just firefighters, it is police as well,” he said. It is important for Yonkin to be a conduit with these young people and increase a positive image for all public safety employees.

As such, he frequently visits preschools, clubs and high schools.

For anyone with a club or organization, he offers the opportunity to reach out.

Anyone can do that by contacting Yonkin at Fireinspector@cityofwilliamsport.org

He vowed reaching out will not go unanswered.

“I will come and visit,” he said.