Fire chief says keeping rental ordinance key to public safety

He said the family’s debacle, which took place at a rental on Cottage Club Road, stood in stark contrast to another call-out that same day — and three others during the weekend leading up to the eclipse where fire crews were able to quickly sort things out.

“We had a very positive outcome on one and a very negative outcome on the other,” Reeves said.

Reeves and fellow firefighters have long advocated for an ordinance like the one the Stowe Selectboard adopted on a 3-2 vote in February that would regulate, and create a registry, of all short-term rentals in town — an ordinance that is now up for a recission vote next week.

On several occasions in recent years, Reeves said crews have shown up to short-term rentals and have been unable to reach the owner of the place. Not only does that create a mess for guests who might have to find alternative lodging on the fly, he said, but it ties up volunteer firefighters, often until the wee hours of the morning on a work day.

“Last year was the first time I identified it as a growing problem that we were starting to see, that we’re showing up at these places and there were folks who were not familiar with the owner and did not know anything about the utilities and did not have any real contact people except for reservation services,” Reeves said this week. “They couldn’t get help and they’re looking at the fire department at two o’clock in the morning, saying, ‘What do we do?’”

According to data collected by the Stowe Fire Department since the beginning of this year, crews have been summoned to fire alarms at short-term rentals 16 times so far in 2024. Of those calls, seven were listed as not being in compliance with fire safety regulations, and five were listed as being in compliance.

Four of the calls — the first four of the year — don’t have that data listed, details Reeves said his crews have since worked to include.

Nearly one-third of the fire department’s calls to short-term rentals this year, five of them, came during the three-day eclipse weekend, April 6-8. All but one of those were listed as compliant.

The one that was not, located on Cottage Club Road, was also the site of an alarm on Jan. 27. That time, according to the fire department data, the place was again listed as noncompliant.

Reeves said after the most recent call-out, the state fire marsal “red-flagged” the property. Normally, the property owner would be fined, but since Reeves was unable to locate the owner, the fire marshal's $500 fine went to Vacasa, the Oregon-based vacation rental management company handling its bookings.

Vacasa has nearly 80 office locations in the United States, but not one in Stowe — a Ludlow office is its only listed Vermont location. The company manages over 44,000 vacation rentals in 35 states, Canada, Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica, according to its website.

In response to a request for comment this week, a Vacasa spokesperson acknowledged the April 8 incident and said the company is working to remedy the situation.

“After reviewing the maintenance tickets for this Stowe family vacation home, a faulty hot water furnace was found to be the cause of the carbon monoxide alarm being triggered,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The Fire Marshall promptly met with a local Vacasa team member, and the carbon monoxide alarm was found to be in good working order, as were the heating and water systems. Upon a second instance where the hot water furnace failed, Vacasa was again in contact with the Fire Marshall to remedy the issue. The home is currently blocked on vacasa.com and our booking channels until the heating and water components are replaced.”

Reeves said not only did he and other public safety officials push for an ordinance, he and others are against efforts to rescind it. Indeed, he and eight Stowe fire and rescue volunteers are among more than 250 Stowe voters who signed their names to an advertisement in last week’s Stowe Reporter urging their fellow residents to vote no on rescinding the ordinance.

He said he’s not opposed to vacation rentals, and even said he and his wife are also considering it.

“I support people’s freedom of capitalism to have short-term rentals,” he said. “I’m looking at it purely through public safety.”

Updated Friday, April 26, to clarify that the state fire marshal, not the town, issues fines for fire safety violations.