BRUNSWICK, Maine — Brunswick’s General Assistance program provided emergency housing for 10 of 11 tenants of a six-unit apartment building condemned Wednesday after the owner failed to address fire and life safety problems that town staff say include exposed wiring, a sparking electrical outlet and second-story porches that aren’t properly attached to the building.
Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Hutchinson and Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Emerson posted yellow signs at the 3 Lincoln St. residence at noon Wednesday, officially notifying residents that they had to be out of the building by midnight.
But Emerson said Friday that tenants were told two days earlier, following an inspection on Monday, that they would need to find somewhere else to live.
Firefighters first noticed the problems in January during a call to the building, according to Emerson. In March, having located owners Shoshana York and Robert Hanss of Carver, Massachusetts, and gained access to the building, Emerson conducted an official inspection.
Since March, according to Emerson, the town has granted a number of extensions and issued multiple fines. On Monday, a tenant’s complaint prompted another inspection, which Emerson said showed “significant concerns about the building’s electrical and structural integrity.”
The owners were given 48 hours to have licensed professionals inspect the house and verify its safety, but Brunswick officials say they failed to do so.
Emerson inspected the house again Wednesday and condemned it — nearly one year after condemning a Dunning Street building for violations of fire and life safety codes.
Emerson said Friday that the action may seem harsh, but that Brunswick has taken a harder look at such issues since an April 2011 fire that destroyed a three-story apartment building at 45 Maine St., displacing tenants from more than a dozen apartments and four businesses.
During the hours-long battle against the flames, one person was rescued from a third-story window and several of the roughly 100 firefighters on scene became disoriented in the maze of rooms and had trouble finding a way out.
“Maine Street was a turning point for us as far as how we process these types of issues,” Emerson said Friday. “Since then, there have been a couple of [buildings condemned for being unsafe] — including Dunning Street.”
While the city of Portland recently began routine fire safety inspections of residential units following a Noyes Street fire in November that killed six people, and the city of Bangor began proactively inspecting multi-unit apartment buildings in July, Brunswick’s fire department, like those in most Maine communities, does not conduct “proactive” inspections for such violations, and is not staffed to do so.
Emerson said several of the violations found in the Lincoln Street building were the same violations present in the Maine Street building before it burned, including insufficient smoke detectors and an improperly installed sprinkler system.
“We’ve been asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Emerson said in 2014 after condemning the Dunning Street building. “I’d rather be asked that than be asked, ‘Why didn’t you do something?’”
Judy Hardy Goddard, who runs Brunswick’s General Assistance program, said Friday that she found immediate housing on Wednesday for 10 people from four of the six apartments, while another tenant had somewhere to stay. Tenants from two of the units have already found permanent housing, with Goddard’s assistance, and another former tenant is due to meet with her on Monday.