THE 4-STORY APARTMENT BUILDING THAT BURNED down in Gloucester last weekend did not have an occupancy permit, nor had there ever been a full inspection of the property.
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Boston Globe
Records show that the current owners purchased the property in February, 1999, but never obtained the occupancy permit as required by state law. Before an occupancy can be granted, the property has to first have a safety inspection, yet despite letters from the city telling the owners to schedule one, it was never done.
The city’s sole building inspector William Sanborn said, “I don’t think we’ve ever completed a full inspection (of that building).” The Gloucester Times reports further:
Sanborn explained that such inspections, which are required by the State Building Code, look for “life and safety issues” – the absence of required fire extinguishers, for example, or structural and electrical deficiencies that must be brought up to code.
Sanborn said his department apparently took no action in response to the owners’ failure to schedule the required inspection.
Sanborn said there was also no record of a response to a May 2006 letter to the owners informing them that an “egress” from a basement apartment was not operating properly.
The city had three inspectors, but after one resigned the position was left vacant “to save money.” This past summer another was fired with cause, leaving Sanborn as the only building inspector in the city.
The Gloucester Times has the full story on the lack of inspections and permits HERE.
There will be questions asked of the City Council such as:
- Why were the owners permitted to rent out residential apartments without a legal occupancy permit?
- The fire department has publicly stated that they have long considered the building to be a fire trap. Why did the city allow the owners to operate without one?
- When deficiencies and overdue inspection notices were ignored by the owners, why did the city not execute enforcement?
- Why does the city continue to this day to under-staff the inspector’s office making it impossible for the (now only) inspector to complete all the state-mandated inspections?
- Why does the city put a ladder truck in service with only one person when NFPA standards recommend four firefighters be assigned?
- On the night of the fire, why was the fire department operating with less than the contracted number of firefighters on duty?
- Why do the dispatch guidelines call for a single-engine response to a “smell of smoke” in a multi-occupancy building that the fire department has called a “fire trap”?
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There will be more questions come up as the investigations proceed. Firegeezer will be watching.
