After a devastating fire, New Bedford is cracking down on rooming houses. Here's how.

NEW BEDFORD — The city's efforts to encourage sprinkler system compliance for the city's rooming houses, launched in the wake of the fatal March 28 rooming house fire at the Royal Crown Lodge on Acushnet Avenue, has seen favorable results, Mayor Jon Mitchell's office reported Thursday. He also shared some new changes to the city's handling of rooming houses.

According to a press release, out of the city's 19 rooming houses that had yet to enter into full compliance with the state sprinkler statute at the time of the fire:

Six have fully completed sprinkler system installations (116 County St., 485 County St., 45 Morgan St., 162 Sawyer St., 39 Sycamore St. and 192 Walnut St.)

Five operators decided to cease or reduce operations as rooming houses so their facilities are no longer subject to the statute (138 Deane St., 234 Earle St., 152 Williams St., 371 County St., and 110 Eighth St.)

Get some background: Officials release cause of deadly New Bedford rooming house fire. Here's where it started

Six operators are actively installing sprinkler systems currently (201-203 Ashley Blvd., 549 County St., 147 Eighth St., 49 North St., 550 County St., 134 Deane St.)

Two operators are facing court action for "failure to respond to City directives." (237 Collette St., 639 County St.)

Existing systems revisited, verified in working order

Another 14 locations, which already had existing sprinkler systems, have been re-inspected: 1751-1759 Acushnet Ave., 1842 Acushnet Ave., 434 Cottage St., 396 Middle St., 347 Pleasant St., 1050 Pleasant St., 1060 Pleasant St., 20 South Sixth St., 29 Tarkiln Hill Road, 116 Lindsey St., 116 Ruth St., 493 Belleville Ave., 499 Purchase St., and 242 Walnut St.

Fire Inspectors verified that these existing systems were in good working order, according to the mayor's office.

"The Fire Prevention Bureau is continuing its close scrutiny of rooming houses in New Bedford, with rooming houses periodically checked for compliance with all life safety code requirements," the release reads.

Changes moving forward

While the recent initial sprinkler check-up may have been in response to a tragedy, city departments are implementing some new, tighter measures rooming houses will be subject to, Mitchell said in a phone interview Thursday. These include: doubling the frequency of fire inspections from once to twice a year, and placing rooming houses in the city health department's "Priority One" category, which will entail health inspections every three months.

Another change will flip the dynamic of the licensing process to put more at stake for landlords who don't correct violations.

"The licensing board is going to issue licenses only when all inspections have been done and there's nothing to correct," Mitchell said, noting landlords may be issued provisional licenses in cases where time is needed, as to not risk putting residents out of a home. But from there, if landlords don't comply within an allotted timeframe, Mitchell said "then it may come to the possibility of pulling a license."

"It's a much more aggressive approach," Mitchell said, though noting the "less aggressive approach was still grounded in valid rationale."

"We didn't want people getting displaced. We don't want more people homeless."

In the past, city officials have described the nature of the licensing process as a prompt to require the scheduling of inspections, often after issuance.

Mitchell 'grateful' for fire department's work

“Rooming houses pose a unique set of fire safety challenges, and we must take extra steps to keep their occupants safe,” said Mitchell in the press release. “I am grateful for the work our code enforcement team and the fire department did to make that happen.”

Get some background: Did New Bedford drop the ball on fire code enforcement of rooming house?

“Our progress is a reflection of the dedication and professionalism of Captain Kurt Houghton and his team of Fire Inspectors, and their effective collaboration with other City Departments, including Inspectional Services, the Mayor’s Housing Task Force, the Health Department, and the Solicitor’s Office," said Fire Chief Scott Kruger. "It has been a team effort to hold rooming house operators accountable, and I am proud of the role that the Fire Department has played."

Background

On the afternoon of March 28, a fire at the Royal Crown Lodge rooming house at 1301-1307 Acushnet Ave. caught fire, resulting in two deaths, number of others hospitalized. Some involved in outreach efforts have estimated 20-30 residents were displaced.

The remainder of the building was deemed structurally unsound and was demolished in the days following the fire.

The fire — determined to have stemmed from a second-floor tenant's microwave and/or the electrical outlet it was plugged into — resulted in increased scrutiny on sprinkler statute enforcement of New Bedford rooming houses. At the time of the fire, the Royal Crown had not yet installed its system, but it has since been confirmed the landlords were well into the process, having been granted a building permit for installation on March 23, only five days before the fire. Prior to that, work completed included having plans drafted and reviewed, and looking for a contractor to tie in a city water supply.

In an April interview with The Standard-Times, Kruger shared the fire department's and city's plans to do a sweep of the city's rooming houses to check up on compliance statuses.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford says sprinkler enforcement efforts are seeing results