City health officials Wednesday said they want to beef up fire safety guidelines for the new food truck expansion ordinance after seeing some troubling examples.
“One vendor who came to us had a 100-pound propane tank; that was not safe,” said Dr. Cort Lohff, medical director of environmental health for the city’s health department, during the Chicago Board of Public Health meeting.
The new ordinance—passed by the city council July 25—now allows truck vendors to prepare food on-board, which will likely require trucks to have propane or natural gas tanks. But vendors can only obtain licenses to cook in their trucks once the city’s board of public health passes a set of guidelines to enforce the ordinance.
The board, which has full authority over the ordinance’s rules, is expected to vote on the draft on Dec. 19. If approved, truck owners will have specific guidelines for safe propane and natural gas tank use, among other safety recommendations.
The proposed draft outlines 16 fire safety regulations alone, which are apart from six additional guidelines for propane and natural gas use.
A large concern looms over how propane tanks are placed on food trucks, said Gerrin Cheek Butler, the health department’s director of food protection. She added that tanks should not have many cords running freely around or outside the truck, which could cause serious fire-related problems.
Lohff said he has seen multiple food trucks that are not correctly placing their propane tanks on the outside of their trucks.
Under the proposed draft of regulations, tanks attached outside of trucks should be weather-protected and have a gas leak indicator inside of the vehicle. If approved, the rules would also require tanks—which must be from an approved list—to be mounted no less than 28 inches above the ground.
Tanks would be restricted to 40 pounds of gas and truck employees would be required to receive training for propane or natural gas tank use.
“This is the first time any city has taken fire safety issues seriously,” Butler said, referring to food truck regulations.
Gabriel Wiesen, co-owner of Beaver’s Coffee and Donuts food truck, said the city’s long list of requirements for food trucks have always been hefty and expensive, as he served customers from the truck in a parking lot near Wabash Avenue and Van Buren Street.
“You can’t get in to a food truck business in this city without spending at least $100,000,” Wiesen said.
Weisen added that his truck has been following most fire safety practices and is on route to becoming Chicago’s first food truck with a city-appointed food preparation license.
About 63 licenses are waiting to be approved for all food truck vendors, including those who want to prepare food on-board, Butler said. She added that the department of health is helping pre-prepared food vendors to update their trucks for new requirements.
The July ordinance requires trucks to have GPS trackers so city officials and residents can locate trucks online. Lohff said this is helpful for city officials, as trucks are legally required to be 200 feet away from any nearby restaurant inside of a “brick and mortar” building.
Beaver’s co-owner, Jimmy Nuccio, said the truck has begun the process of adding a GPS tracker to their truck and said he doesn’t understand why some truck owners have a problem with it.
“This is kind of a tool,” Nuccio said. “If you do get a ticket (for being less than 200-feet from a restaurant), you can go back to the GPS and show that you weren’t there, if you weren’t there.”
The draft will be available for public comment after Nov. 14 until the board votes.