Fire crews crack down on bar occupancy

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - West Lafayette fire crews are cracking down on bar occupancy levels. West Lafayette Fire Chief Tim Heath said he started noticing the crowds during last spring's Grand Prix and this fall's Breakfast Clubs.

However, he said right now is when emergency crews and bar owners see more people heading to the bars.

He expected many students and residents to go to the popular State Street hill area for the Purdue-IU game.

Occupancy levels vary from bar to bar. For example, Harry's Chocolate Shop has two stories. Its occupancy levels will be different from Jake's Roadhouse, which has only one story.

Heath said he relies on the help of bar owners when it comes to keeping occupancy codes.

Manager of Jake's Roadhouse in West Lafayette Alex Feistel said their doormen have clickers to they can keep track of exactly who goes in and out of the bar.

Although Feistel and Heath both see the most people during Grand Prix and Breakfast Club, they said they see the crowds growing right now.

"As the spring roles around, and the weather is nice, [students] can get out and grill, and they want to go to the bars," Heath said. "It's not too bad to be out walking around. The peak times increase more [in the spring]."

"Right now our capacity is around 210 people," Feistel said. "Ironically enough, it's the number of seats we have."

Feistel said his capacity has gone down in recent years. It used to be more than 300 people.