Taverns without sprinklers to be shut
8 Boston bars face deadline; law stems from Station fire
Hundreds of bars in Massachusetts have installed fire sprinkler systems since a fast-moving fire roared through a Rhode Island nightclub and killed 100 people. But some Boston bars do not have sprinklers, and the city plans to shut those establishments down by closing time tonight, fire officials said.
Police officers will arrest anyone inside those bars tomorrow, which marks the final sprinkler installation deadline under a state law passed after the 2003 fire at The Station in West Warwick, R.I., officials said.
Eight bars and entertainment venues in Boston are slated to be shuttered, including popular neighborhood haunts such as Tavern on the Water in Charlestown and Mary Ann's pub in Brighton. All were given extensions earlier this year to get sprinkler systems up and running. The law does not allow for more extensions, Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. said.
"There is no room for leniency," he said.
The pending closures will force cancellation of numerous events, including wedding showers, sweet sixteen celebrations, and holiday parties, club owners and managers said. Seniors groups and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings have already been canceled at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Lodge in Hyde Park.
Some clubs, including the Eagles Lodge, said yesterday that they are having problems getting permits to finish installing sprinklers. One, Galvin's Harp & Bard in Dorchester, said the pub has had sprinklers since 1985. But fire officials said they have not been allowed to inspect the system. Others, such as Tavern on the Water and Big City bar in Allston said they are working around the clock to finish installation.
A large bar mitzvah, booked more than a year ago, is planned Saturday at Big City. Owner Marc Kadish said he is scrambling to get sprinklers working by tonight.
"I'm hoping to work it out," said Kadish, who is so optimistic that he has not notified the bar mitzvah's organizer.
Boston appears to have the most bars slated for closure under the sprinkler law, state officials said, though a few other establishments in smaller communities across the state might be affected. Fire officials said at least one bar in Dedham, The Olde Irish Ale House, is facing closure.
Neither Dedham officials nor owners of the Ale House returned calls seeking comment.
Despite the few stragglers, state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said the state's landmark mandatory sprinkler law, passed four years ago, was a success. The law was enacted in response to the fire at The Station nightclub, which had no sprinklers and was jammed with people attending a metal concert when an unlicensed pyrotechnics display ignited insulating foam.
Coan estimated this week that hundreds of bars statewide have installed sprinklers because of the legislation. He said he did not have exact numbers because cities and towns were not required to report sprinkler installations under the law, but his estimate is a rough calculation based on what he has heard from fire officials in many of the state's 351 cities and towns.
"Is it everything that we may have wanted? The answer is no," he said. "But I'm very satisfied with the outcome of this effort to improve fire safety in entertainment venues."
Establishments have had four years to install sprinklers under the Fire Safety Act of 2004, which required entertainment venues with capacities greater than 100 people to install sprinklers by Nov. 15, 2007. The law allowed local fire officials to grant one-year extensions on the deadline. Those extensions expire tomorrow.
"Everybody has a story," Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
A Globe review of Fire Department records found that only 68 establishments in the city have installed sprinkler systems since the law passed, far short of the 283 establishments that fire officials initially determined needed them.
To get around the law, some of the clubs reduced their capacities below 100 people; some split their space so that each side's capacity fell below 100. Others convinced fire officials that they are restaurants, which are not subject to the law. Some of the bars facing closure tonight spent time trying to execute similar maneuvers, owners said.
When Boston fire officials determined that Big City, a bar that boasts of having 21 pool tables and 80 beers on tap, would have to install sprinklers, the bar appealed to state officials, arguing that it was primarily a restaurant and therefore exempt from the law. The state denied the appeal in June.
Kadish said he has been working ever since to get a sprinkler system permitted, installed, and inspected.
"At this point, we're down to the wire, and we're hoping if we need one more day, they're not going to make an example of us," Kadish said.
The Eagles lodge had contended that it was a private function hall, but fire officials rejected their argument. Mike Lema, the lodge's manager, blamed lengthy permitting and contractor delays for the inability to get sprinklers installed in time.
Lema said the hall mostly hosts charity events and that community groups will be hurt by today's closure.
"This is absurd," he said.
At Tavern on the Water, co-owner Brad Dalbeck said he did not realize when he and his partner bought the two-story bar in 2005 that it needed a sprinkler system.
"We had no idea about the statute," he said.
Dalbeck said it has taken months to get contractors and permits after an appeal to state officials was rejected in November, 2007.
He said that the sprinklers have been installed, but that there were problems connecting the system to a water supply.
Still, Dalbeck said he has hopes to have it fixed by tonight.
"Hopefully we're going to make this happen," he said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com. 