Fire marshal: East Haven businesses evacuated

EAST HAVEN — The East Haven Fire Marshal ordered businesses in the Thompson Plaza on Foxon Road to vacate Friday evening due to issues in its fire protection systems.

Fire Marshal Charles Miller said that inspections conducted last month found non-functioning fire alarm and sprinkler systems in both East Haven Discount Liquors and the Route 80 Diner. Miller added that the systems hadn’t been functioning since the previous inspection.

Despite numerous attempts to contact the building owner, the owner has not fixed the issue, Miller said.

“My responsibility is to ensure that the occupants and visitors are safe,” Miller said. “Unfortunately in this case, the business occupants are at the mercy of their landlord who at this point has been uncooperative.”

“Business owners were notified so that they could plan for the weekend because it does not appear that immediate action will be taken by the building owner,” he continued. “As soon as the violations are corrected and inspected, they will likely be able to resume business.”

Miller said there were other violations in the plaza, but the sprinkler and fire alarm systems were “serious.”

After numerous attempts to contact the building’s owner, as well as sending letters of violation to the state Fire Safety & Prevention Code and starting a formal abatement process, communication with the owner was “limited or none at all,” Miller said in a news release.

“To date no corrections to the fire protection systems have been made,” Miller added.

A sheriff served the building owner a notice of fire code violation on June 2 that gave him four hours to start work. Since then, the building owner, nor his representatives, have not tried to contact the fire marshal, according to Miller.Though Miller is sympathetic to the building occupants and their customers, Miller said the building’s owner “has refused to be responsible for a fire watch during business hours.”

The building owner could not be reached for comment Friday.