PORTLAND, Maine — Portland Fire Chief Jerome LaMoria acknowledged Thursday to WCSH-TV, Channel 6, Portland’s NBC affiliate, that the department had stopped doing routine fire safety inspections of certain apartment buildings before a 2014 apartment fire claimed the lives of six people.
But LaMoria emphasized that it would be inaccurate to connect the curtailment of inspections with the Nov. 1, 2014, fire at a multiunit dwelling on Noyes Street that resulted in six deaths.
Instead of conducting routine inspections of apartment buildings with three residential units or more, the department redirected its focus in 2014 to high-risk dwellings such as nursing homes and buildings with previously noted safety violations, according to the chief.
“We were being ineffective,” LaMoria said in explaining why the department shifted its prevention focus.
“I want to assure every person that fire prevention efforts have never been suspended,” LaMoria told the television station.
The chief said he did not make a public announcement of the policy change because he was not required to do so, according to WCSH. He told the television station the department intends to resume routine fire safety inspections of apartment buildings within 90 days, after firefighters receive training and the department acquires technology that will make the inspections more manageable.
LaMoria said the department conducted inspections of apartments when asked to do so by tenants or landlords.
At that time, LaMoria also said smoke detectors at the site were disabled and exits blocked at the time of the fire, exacerbating the loss of life. He said the investigators’ report will be reviewed by the Cumberland County district attorney’s office to determine if any charges should be filed in the case.
Families of three of the six victims have filed wrongful death suits against Gregory Nisbet, the landlord of the fatal fire site at 20-24 Noyes St.