There's concern over the safety of migrant worker housing in the county and Kingsville fire has made it a priority to address the issue.
More than 2,000 migrant workers reside in Kingsville making up nearly 10% of the population.
Fire chief Bob Kissner says it's a complicated problem. "There are many different building codes that the migrant working housing has been built under over the years," says Kissner. "Because of that, right now it's very difficult to determine what they require in terms of fire protection for the migrant workers."
Kingsville fire will continue to inspect migrant worker housing until all units are made fire safe. "I think we would really like to know what's out there and right now we aren't sure," says Kissner.
He says they've seen great success with some houses they have already inspected. "They installed a fire alarm system for example. They had some upgrades they did in terms of fire separations," Kissner says.
