By Mike Stucka
BEVERLY — The city yesterday forced the owner of the Press Box to hire a 24-hour fire detail after inspectors discovered hazards that could cause a fire to rip through a building that's home to dozens of residents.
Building Commissioner Steve Frederickson compared the potential disaster at the Park Street building to the Elliott Chambers boarding house, where a fire killed 15 people in 1984.
"There's just loose wires hanging everywhere that could easily ignite and set the building on fire," he said. "It's a disaster waiting to happen. Beverly's already had its disaster."
The Press Box, across from the Beverly Depot, remained open for business last night after a firefighter began his detail at 6 p.m. The building includes a boarding home above the Press Box, a bar facing heavy city scrutiny. Police have been called there 122 times this year, and the city Licensing Board recently issued a six-day license suspension.
Deputy Chief William Petrosino said he's never seen a similar fire watch ordered in his 21 years with the department. He said the service runs about $48 an hour, or about $1,150 each day.
An attorney for the property owner said the problems will be fixed.
Frederickson said city wiring inspector Bill Ambrefe was making his annual round through the property yesterday when he saw a light fixture in a bathroom filled with water. Curious, he lifted a ceiling tile in the boarding house and discovered patched-together wiring and crumbling ceilings that could start and spread fire easily.
Frederickson said the boarding house's annual inspection was a regular event, but they'd never had a reason to look above the ceiling tiles before.
"Above the suspended ceilings there's a hodgepodge of wiring that have been done over the years, splices in boxes, a lot of the wiring is just electrical cords that have been cut and spliced everywhere," he said. "This is all above the sprinkler system so if a fire started, it would spread throughout the building and not even trigger the sprinkler system."
Frederickson said if a fire broke out, it could spread faster to floors above because of the destroyed ceilings. Residents would have a difficult time escaping.
"The fire escape ladder was chained closed with a padlock on it so you couldn't use it if you had to," he said.
According to the Beverly assessor's office, the building features 27 living units. The State Corporations Division lists the property owner as Baylus Baum, who did not return a phone call yesterday seeking comment.
Baum's attorney, Jack Altshuler, learned of the violations from a reporter.
"How come all of a sudden they find these problems? Where have these inspectors been for all these years? ... I'm surprised and shocked because I thought they had intensive inspections on a regular basis," Altshuler said.
He said Baum would do whatever was necessary to make the building safe and meet building codes.
Inspectors also found a T-shirt printing shop in the basement that was using and storing flammable materials. Frederickson said it didn't have a building permit, electrical permit, certificate of occupancy, sufficient fire walls or sufficient ways to escape fires.
Frederickson guessed it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix the problems.
"You pretty much have to get an electrician in there and tear down every ceiling on all four floors and rewire the entire building," he said.
Along with the building and wiring inspectors, the health and fire departments also visited the property yesterday.
Staff writer Mike Stucka can be reached at 978-338-2652 or mstucka@salemnews.com.
