Salina business owners Jerry and Jenni Jones and Jesse and Amber Bradley opened their Tumbleweed Event Center in Salina in March of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation. After passing inspections and securing approvals from the city and Saline County, the owners say they were told in a call to the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s (KSFM) office that state approval was not required and that local authorities would determine the building’s compliance.
According to the owners, the venue operated for five years, with yearly site inspections by the owners’ insurance company. Until an October 2025 call from the KSFM explaining a backlog of inspections delayed one for the Tumbleweed. That inspection found the building needed to be brought up to code, with fire-rated walls and a fire suppression system installed, among other improvements. The owners claimed they could not afford the estimated costs and eventually closed the event center.
In a joint statement provided to The Sentinel, the owners recounted their experience:
“Financially, continuing was not feasible for a small venue, so after years of dedication and hard work to build our reputation and serve the community, we ultimately made the difficult decision to close the venue, as there was no other option. We have never deterred from safety; every year, our insurance carrier does a site inspection as well and provides requirements for continued coverage, and we complete these promptly. I find it interesting how our insurance provider can provide coverage for the building in its current condition, but the KSFM deems it unsafe! The responsibility for issuing checks in the event of any incident rests with this company, rather than KSFM.”
Now, they say the limbo status of the building due to the closure is a further challenge:
“At the current time, we are actively trying to sell the building, as this whole experience has brought us financial stress and much anger, disappointment, and personal stress. Through this whole process, the building code remained the same; no construction permits were pulled. What constitutes the requirement to bring a building built many years ago to current standard is a change of occupancy/ownership, this needs to be changed.
“Now, as we try to sell the building, we find ourselves with little to no interest from potential buyers, as this issue lingers in the background for future owners as well. Not only did the KSFM come back on their suggestions five years ago, but now we have a great loss of business and potentially huge reductions in sales price!
“We had an offer on the building contingent on KSFM allowing a deviation from the requirement for a fire suppression system, which they publicly announced they will do for certain businesses in rural areas. We explored this option only to have the KSFM say no, since that would be a change of occupancy requiring the building to be brought up to current fire code. KSFM makes this deviation available because these areas lack needed infrastructure to support a fire suppression system. Our business falls in this area, but they will not allow a new owner this deviation, leaving us no viable option for compliance.”
We asked State Fire Marshal Mark Engholm for a reaction to the owner’s accusations:
“For background, our state has had statewide fire prevention regulations since 1913, with the state adopting a national fire code in 1970. The state fire prevention code applies to all buildings and places in the state where people live, work, or gather for any purpose, except for buildings used solely as one- or two-family homes. Cities and counties can choose to adopt and enforce their own version of the fire code, which may be more restrictive than the state code, but roughly 95% of the state is protected solely by the state code. Generally, buildings are required to be built to the version of the fire prevention code in effect when they were first constructed, last changed purposes, or significant renovations or additions were made.
“The building that you are inquiring about, 5680 W. Old Highway 40, was originally built as and served many years as a furniture store and warehouse (Ted Augistine Furniture). Following the closing of the store, I understand that the building was used as automotive repair and body shop businesses. From our research, on July 14, 2020 the Saline County Planning and Zoning Department issued Jesse and Amber Bradley a conditional use permit for the building as an event venue. That use permit included a list of conditions the Bradleys needed to meet in order to open, including:
- Applicant must consult with the State Fire Marshal to verify compliance with State Fire Codes for such uses.
- Applicant must provide staff an acknowledgement from a third-party fire architect stating the facility meets fire safety standards.
“On Item 3, I understand that the owners have told you that they telephoned someone in our office in 2020 and were told to contact the local authorities. If such a call occurred, any answer they received would have been based on how the question was phrased and how the building was described. I would hope that if someone contacted our office to state that they were required to consult with our office by their county about a mixed assembly and storage venue in a rural area with an occupancy of more than 1,000 that our staff would have engaged with them.
“On Item 4, it does not appear that the Bradleys consulted with a professional architect on fire code issues in the building until after we inspected their facility in 2025. Per the timeline below and the attached documents, we were contacted by David D. Bieberly, P.A. who stated he was only asked to create an exit plan and an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance plan for the building. Bieberly stated he was now working on a plan on their behalf, which included fire sprinklers, a fire alarm system and fire wall separations. As the purpose of the building was being changed from an automotive repair / body shop to a public assembly and mixed storage occupancy, the building would be required to meet the 2006 International Fire Code and International Building Code, which the state had adopted and was in force in 2020.
“Based on the conditional use permit, it is unclear if Saline County understood that the Bradley’s intended to use the facility not only as an assembly venue, but as a mixed occupancy- with large, public assembly areas immediately adjacent to leased storage areas where vehicles, boats, flammable liquids, and combustible materials were warehoused without any rated fire separation. Of even greater concern is the amount of space dedicated to “self-storage”, where building owners do not generally control what is being brought into and stored in their building next to event venues without rated fire separations. While our country has a history of fire hazards and loss of life in public assembly properties (e.g. the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, KY, and the Station Nightclub fire in 2004), I think that you understand that placing those inconsistent storage uses into a single building without fire wall separation, a fire alarm system or a fire sprinkler system puts members of the public who gather in that building at risk. If you have not had the opportunity to see how quickly one of these venue fires builds and creates a deadly situation, look at the video taken inside the Station Nightclub by a television reporter at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO0ioCCiEe8 . Scientific recreations of that event have shown that if the Station Nightclub had the sprinklers installed the code required, 100 people would be alive today and 230 others would not have been injured, some of them burned catastrophically. The recent fire in Europe on New Years Eve is another good example of the hazards we face in public assemblies when fire safety standards are not followed.”
Tumbleweed Event Center Timeline of Events
10/7/2025, KSFM Inspector II Spencer Smith was directed to conduct a fire safety inspection of the building at 5680 W. Old Highway 40 in response to a complaint that the building was operating as a large-capacity public event center without a sprinkler system. Smith is an Inspector II, which means his regular duties include reviewing construction plans and working with contractors to ensure their work is compliant during construction projects as a Certified Fire Plans Examiner. However, the Field Inspector I position covering Salina County was vacant at this time and Smith was asked to conduct this routine facility inspection, which is commonly done when there are open inspector territories.
Inspector II Smith sent the following email:
Good afternoon,
I am writing to inform you that your facility requires annual fire and life safety inspections. I am the inspector who will be handling your 2025 inspection. I am needing to work this into my schedule for tomorrow or at the latest, Thursday. Please give me a call and we can get an appointment set up. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Spencer Smith
CFPE | Prevention Division
On 10/8/2025, Inspector Smith received a phone call from Jesse Bradley, who identified himself as the part-owner of the Tumbleweed Event Center. Bradley explained that he was a pilot and was out of town. He told Smith that all the owners had regular jobs and that they could not schedule an inspection that week. Smith asked him to speak with his partners and call him back with a date that would work. Bradley asked Smith what the inspection was for, and Smith explained a few items and offered to send him the KSFM assembly venue compliance checklist.
Bradley asked Smith if he was aware that the building had been constructed in the 1970’s, and they discussed the building’s history prior to becoming an assembly venue in 2020. Smith explained to Bradley that, due to the change in occupancy/use, generally, everything is required to meet current standards. Bradly stated that, according to the county, there had been no change in occupancy and that they had passed final inspection. Bradley asked if items like a sprinkler would be required, and Smith explained that it was a possibility, but that it would depend on many factors, and he did not want to cause him alarm before going to the building and completing the inspection. Smith explained that he liked to look at the building and discuss the issues found, building a solution from there. Bradley stated that if a sprinkler system were required, they would sell the building.
On 11/5/25, Inspector Smith was able to get his schedule to align with the Bradleys’ and conducted the inspection. The Bradleys apparently misunderstood Smith’s comments about the delay, as he was referring to the month it had taken them to align their schedules to complete the inspection. Smith said his office was not suffering from a backlog of inspections, and follow-up on safety complaints has priority. His comments about this not being his regular duty were concerning the open inspector territory in Saline County, where he normally handled plan review and new construction, and that he would not be the person conducting further routine inspections of the building.
The inspection uncovered multiple safety violations in the building, including insufficient exits from the assembly rooms, use of non-commercial fire extinguishers, extinguishers that are required to be serviced annually had not been serviced in 18 years, emergency lights were missing throughout the facility, locks on emergency egress doors, and improper electrical wiring. This is all in addition to the lack of fire-rated walls, a fire alarm system, and a fire sprinkler system.
On 11/10/2025, Smith received the following email from the architect hired by Bradley.
Spencer,
I have been contacted by the owners of Tumbleweed Event Venue to assist is resolving the violations listed in your inspection date Wednesday November 5, 2025.
If you have a minute can we discuss over the phone today?
You can call me at 785-452-5893.
We want to respond asap.
Thanks,
David D. Bieberly, P.A.
Smith called and spoke with the architect. The architect stated that when he was initially hired, he only created an exiting plan and ADA compliance plan for the facility. The architect stated that he was not aware that any other documents had been required by the county. The architect told Smith that he was working on a fire alarm, fire sprinkler, and fire separation plan for the building. Smith told him that we were willing to work with them to build a solution to the issues.
11/12/25 Plan of Correction was received by KSFM.
12/10/25 owner sent an email to KSFM notifying us that they were closing the facility.
On 12/16/2025, KSFM Compliance Officer Melissa Eades followed up with Bradley. They talked about his decision for closing and selling the business. He stated that his architect told him that he needed to re-do all the walls and install a sprinkler system to be compliant with code. He said that he and his wife couldn’t afford to do what the architect was suggesting. Eades listened to him and stated she would talk with her supervisor to see if there were any ways we could work together to come up with a plan to bring them to compliance that they could afford and not have to close their business. Bradley was extremely grateful for the call and then stated that he was, for lack of a better term, unimpressed with the contact he had with the inspector. Eades apologized for his experience and told him that we were willing to at talk about options for the facility.
On 1/22/26, KSFM Chief of Prevention Amanda Yorkey spoke with Bradley. He said they closed the event venue and are using the building for storage only. They already cancelled all pending events and will not accept more. The building is up for sale. Yorkey spoke with Bradley about the frustrations of getting multiple city and county, to include county board, approvals only to be told 5 years later they cannot do it. He stated their architect started talking about everything that needed done and they would not ever recover from it. Yorkey advised that she was going to close the event file on our end, but that encouraged him to get quotes for a fire rated separation wall and full fire alarm system. If, after that they felt that they could invest that additional cost, KSFM would work out a path forward.
“I hope that this answers your questions and provides factual background for your article. Since I became the SFM in late 2023, I have asked our staff to be as “customer friendly” as possible and we try to work with building owners to find ways to find answers to their safety problems, usually through issuing code variances where the building owner agrees to take other measures to ensure the safety of the people in their structure in place of the strict reading of the code. Unfortunately, in this situation, the mix of hazards makes this extremely difficult and expensive. We were willing to continue working with the Bradley’s and their architect when they made the financial decision to close. In prevention, we never know when the actions we take may save someone’s life or prevent them from serious injury or disability. This is a perfect example of KSFM ensuring that doesn’t happen and someone’s wedding celebration, concert date, or quinceañera celebration did not become a story of tragedy and loss.”