Three Boston bars' permits suspended as nightclub sprinkler law takes effect

(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)

The Milky Way on Center Street in Jamaica Plain is one of the bars that were closed.

By Globe Staff

The Boston Fire Department says it has suspended the occupancy certificates of three bars for not coming into compliance with a 2004 law that requires the installation of fire sprinklers.

The bars with suspended permits are the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain, Packy Connors in Roxbury, and Kay's Oasis in Dorchester. Two other bars can remain open while they pursue appeals, the Sunset Grill in Allston and the Barking Crab in the waterfront district, the department said in a statement.

The deadline is today for installation of fire sprinklers in establishments with a capacity of 100 people or more.

The law was passed in 2004 after The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island, which killed 100 people in a fiery stampede.

A panel convened by then-Governor Mitt Romney drafted the Fire Safety Act of 2004, which required that sprinklers be installed within three years in all nightclubs, dance halls, discotheques, bars, or other venues "for entertainment purposes" with a capacity of at least 100 people.

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