FARMINGTON – Tonight selectmen agreed to give a building’s owner 30 days to submit a work plan and 60 days to complete the work to fix several safety code violations the state’s Fire Marshal’s Office found on an inspection Oct. 9.
Selectmen voted unanimously to enter into a consent agreement with Joel Batzell, the owner of the building at 103 Bridge Street in West Farmington, that includes the town’s agreement with the state’s Fire Marshal’s Office report that there are safety issues that need to be addressed, that Batzell work with the Fire Marshal’s Office in fixing the repairs with the town prepared to do what it can to help in the process and that Batzell adhere to the 60-day timeline for correcting the violations.
“There are life safety issues here whether it’s a family or tenants living there,” said Steve Kaiser, the town code enforcement officer. “There are serious issues with that structure.”
The two-story wood frame building located west of Center Bridge was inspected after a complaint was received by the state that a woman visiting a resident fell down a ladder that accesses a part of the building.
Fire Marshal Ed Bennett reported 11 safety violations that include an insufficient chimney for the oil furnace, exposed electrical wiring and the over-use of extension cords throughout the structure, unsafe stairs, narrow hallways, lack of the correct construction material barrier between the living and storage areas that can delay a fire from spreading and escape egresses, according to the report.
Batzell is required by the state to respond with a plan of action to make all of the repairs and to provide certification by a licensed electrician and a structural engineer that the wiring and building meet the state’s fire code standards.
Batzell said he intends to correct the violations but has not yet submitted the form to the Fire Marshal’s Office that specifies how and when the corrections will be made. He said at the hearing he needs clarification on exactly what is required and has hired Simon Blodgett, carpenter, to correct the violations.
For the “real” story on this issue with a full clarification of details call the Thought Bridge Free Press News Service (established 1984) – owned and operated by Joel S. Batzell. I cover “Human Interest” stories with actual factual details other news agencies don’t seem to have the time or space to cover.
Oops! The number to reach me at for the Thought Bridge Free Press is 207 778-6400 or email me at thoughtbridges@yahoo.com for the details of this story if or if you want your own reported story clarified for folks that care to receive accurate inforamation.
Thank you.
Sincerely – Joel S. Batzell
Thought Bridge Ministry
Thought Bridge Free Press
“Fire Marshal Ed Bennett reported 11 safety violations that include…”
I pointed out to the press that two of the so-called “violations” were to get “the building inspected by a structural engineer and a certified electrician”. That means there are only 9 actual “violations” and one of the remaining 9 is the tent attached to the building (which is misinterpreted in the above article as “lack of the correct construction material barrier between the living and storage areas…”). This was unclear in the fire Marshall’s inspection report – so I asked the inspector Ed Bennett about it and was told it was the fact the tent was attached to the house. This so called violation seems rather strange, as no one else I have talked about it can understand why that would be necessary at all.
This leaves 8 violations (so called). The extension cord violation is odd in the fact that everyone I know uses extension cords somewhere in the house. Ok we stop using them. We take five minutes to unplug them and put them away and that ones gone.
That leaves 7 so called violations. The oil tank I have in the house passed a 1991 inspection by the State Fire Marshalls office. Now it’s a problem. No chance of fire that I know of but folks if yours is inside you will now have to fix yours too. C N Brown has never had problem with it for over 20 years. Why a vent to the outside – not sure – you can put out a match in kerosene – it’s not like gasoline. Ok we’ll fix that one too.
6 left. The day they came to inspect the premises they failed to take note of the smoke detector I had hard wired and was installed for the 1991 inspection mentioned above.
Now 5. The pipe from the furnace is now supposed to be double walled. Ok fine. It was not a requirement until the new rules were put into effect. Now somehow is this considered dangerous. We have regularly inspected this exhaust pipe for wear. You better not have any exhaust pipe from your furnace without it being double walled or you’re now in violation too!
We’re down to 4. As the press coverage makes it sound like we have multiple ladders leading to sleeping areas let me clarify what is meant by the so called violation.. We have A ladder going to a loft bed with a special window allowing the occupant to easily escape onto a flat roof in case of fire. It is NOT unsafe as it is. The Fire Marshall disagrees now where as in the 1991 report it was not an issue.
Down to 3: The rest of these has to do with a hallway too narrow by 2 inches. A ceiling that’s too low by 1 inch and a stairway that’s too narrow by 2 inches. All of these passed our 1991 inspection. Now they are a problem.
The point I am making here is the fact that all of these so called “violations” most of them were not a problem in 1991 to the State Fire Marshall’s Office that passed this place as meeting State standards are now somehow a problem 18 years later. Hummm makes me wonder what’s the scoop and why the press won’t correct the impression they have give about this place.
Sincerely – Joel Batzell Bridges
Hey Joel. Does someone want you property. You know maybe a little donating items to “Touch of Class” and having friends help spruce up the place ,might get some attention from the people who go by your place everyday.Maybe a sign. “Need help with yard, to get the politicians off my back”They weigh alot
Wow they’re trying to railroad this guy. Seems like they don’t like the sign so they’ll solve this problem by taking his home. Sounds like we need change in local government. Progress is coming and these old coots can’t do a thing about it. They’ll try to keep Farmington a retirement community with all their zoning but it will never last. They will die off and a new generation will follow anew!
I agree with OMG that someone is trying to railroad Joel, and yes, Steve Kaiser doesn’t like his sign. I sat in District Court on Nov. 5 and heard Steve threaten to take down Joel’s sign if he commits “one more sign related violation.” The sign-related violation he was in court for was a 2-line ad for Cole’s Carpet Cleaning which had already come down, and the legal issue was whether the person placing the ad, Susan LeJoy, worked on Joel’s premises or not. Apparently she didn’t, or not much. But did anyone threaten Susan LeJoy or haul her into court or fine her? She was at least as guilty as Joel, if anyone was. Steve said he didn’t even know where Susan lived (though she lives in Farmington and her phone number was on the illegal ad). He thought maybe he had telephoned her once; he wasn’t sure. If “off-premises advertising” had been his real concern he would have pursued Susan, but he obviously wasn’t the least bit interested in her; it was Joel he was out to get. I don’t know why. At the Selectmen’s meeting on the 25th Steve claimed that the woman who had an accident in Joel’s house had complained to the Fire Marshal (a story I always thought improbable–the sort of person who would visit one of Joel’s tenants wouldn’t be the sort of person who would call the State Fire Marshal if she had an accident). A few minutes later Joel contradicted Steve’s story, saying that neither that woman nor anyone connected with Thoughtbridge had made the complaint. I asked who did make it, but it seemed that either nobody knew, or nobody was telling. Get the message: if someone doesn’t like you or wants to give you a hard time, they only need pick up the phone and complain to the Maine Fire Marshal about your home or place of business. Doesn’t matter who they are, what their motive is, how credible they are, or whether they have any first-hand knowledge of what they report; the full cavalry will be called out, a bunch of fire inspectors will make an unannounced visit to your house and crawl all over it looking for something to criticize. Doesn’t matter if you have already fixed the problem complained of; they will find something else, such as your hallways are an inch too narrow and your ceilings are an inch too low by the standards of a code written nearly two centuries after the building went up; you’re supposed to correct such things no matter how much it costs. This is a recipe for personal discrimination and harassment.