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Youngstown fire inspector calls East High 'a fire hazard'
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s chief fire inspector says a number of fire-code violations at East High School make the building “a fire hazard” and the building could be shut down shortly if significant repairs aren’t made quickly.
Marcia Harris, chief fire inspector, wrote in a Tuesday letter to Harry Evans, the school district’s business manager: “At this point, I am left no recourse than to recommend that the building be closed until the original and required level of safety is established.”
In the letter, she wrote: “A recent fire safety inspection of East High School revealed that past violations have not been corrected and the building still has several fire-code violations.”
In a Friday interview with The Vindicator, Harris said after Evans received the letter, work is being done to fix the school’s safety violations, most notably “many fire doors that are broken and don’t close.” That problem has existed for years at the school, which opened in 2007, she said.
“Without working fire doors, the whole building could be burned down in a fire,” she said. “I was there [Friday], and crews are working on the doors. I’m going back Monday to see how they’re doing. If the doors aren’t being repaired at an acceptable speed, then we’ll recommend closure until the school is in compliance.”
Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said, “It’s truly inexcusable to go through the whole summer with broken fire doors. They are risking us closing the school down. If they don’t take care of them real quick, we have no other way to go then to shut [the school] down.”
If significant progress isn’t made Monday, the fire department would give them a short time frame, probably 72 hours, to resolve the problem, O’Neill said.
Connie Hathorn, Youngs-town school superintendent, was surprised when told Friday that city fire officials were considering closing East High School.
“It will be fixed,” he said.
Evans said the district has been working on the fire doors Thursday and Friday, and is making progress. But the district had to order hinges for the doors — broken by students who vandalized them — for the repairs to be complete, he said.
“This flew under the radar during the summer,” Evans said.
Then later, he said, “We try to get this done during the summer but couldn’t get everything done.”
Tuesday was the first day of school for students in the Youngstown school district.
“We’re working on it and will continue to do so Monday,” Evans said.