TURNERS FALLS — Montague town officials presented a plan on Monday night to address ongoing safety concerns about the town-owned Strathmore buildings after receiving an order from the State Fire Marshal’s office.
The order comes after a sprinkler system went off in the former paper mill buildings in December. Since it did not trigger an alarm, 1.2 million gallons of water poured into some of the buildings.
Once the town, the Turners Falls Fire Department, and the State Fire Marshal assessed the damage, the Fire Marshal’s office sent the town an order requesting certain problems in the buildings be remedied by Feb. 21.
Chief among those problems is keeping unauthorized people out of the buildings and otherwise securing them. The town also has to remove hazardous material from the building, repair leaks in the roof, and weather-proof the building, and repair the sprinkler system.
Once the buildings are secure, they will be marked with a red ‘X’ that will notify firefighters that there is no one inside the building, and that firefighters should use caution when entering the buildings, or fight the fire from outside the building. According to Turners Falls Fire Chief John Zellmann, attaching the red ‘X’ to the buildings, does not automatically condemn the buildings, but as a visible precaution to prevent unnecessary safety issues for firefighters, if a fire should happen at the buildings.
“This does not close the building off from development,” Town Administrator Steve Ellis said on Tuesday.
He said the long-term hope is for renovation and reuse of the buildings, but that the town is willing to explore any realistic option, including demolition.
“At this point, securing roofs, securing windows, keeping vandals out is part of protecting its ability to be developed,” he said.
The issues at Strathmore come on the heels of the recent fire and court-ordered demolition at the privately-owned Railroad Salvage building. While the town does not own the Railroad Salvage property, the two properties are similar: Both are in states of disrepair, vacant and have cost the town money to repair or demolish.
The main issues the town needs to fix will require additional money. During Monday night’s meeting, the selectboard finalized the date for a special town meeting where officials would ask for the funds. The meeting will be held on March 2, after the Fire Marshal’s Office deadline, but according to town officials, the office has indicated if the town makes progress to remedy the situation, there will be some leeway on the deadline.
The town has taken some immediate steps in the meantime. Montague Police are doing two patrols of the complex per shift and the Department of Public Works has begun making small repairs, securing some entrances, and doing a window count for weather proofing.
The next step for the town is to get a repair estimate, then the town will bid out the project. They plan to have an estimate for costs ahead of the special town meeting. At this time it’s unclear as to the price of the work.
“We think this project makes a lot of sense, and I certainly look forward to explaining to the public exactly what it is that we’re doing,” Ellis said.