HOLYOKE — Investigators have determined that the fire alarm system in a Holyoke apartment building was not monitored during a fatal New Year’s Day fire because the communication connection between the alarm system and alarm monitoring company was broken, according to the state Fire Marshal’s Office.
“The communication connection between the fire alarm system and the alarm monitoring company was broken at 11:47 p.m. on December 30, 2016 in the building at 106 North East Street and not restored before the fatal fire that took three lives occurred less than 48 hours later,” State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey said in a statement.
The reason for the communication loss is unknown, he said.
Records indicate the fire alarm monitoring company called the emergency contact number at the property management company several times over the holiday weekend to alert them to the lost communication connection, according to the state fire marshal’s office. The company was only required to contact their customer, officials said.
According to the state fire marshal’s office, the building had a low-voltage fire alarm system installed in February 2011 in common spaces, which included remote monitoring by a fire alarm monitoring company they did not name.
Individual apartments had single-station battery-operated smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms.
In 2011, fire alarm systems were required in older buildings with more than six units and the systems in the building at 106 North East St. were required to be monitored, according to the state’s fire code regulations. The building did not have a sprinkler system.
The property is owned by Irshad Sideeka of Brookline, who could not be reached for comment Friday.
According to city records, Sideeka purchased the more-than-century old, five-story building, in 2011, and owns several other apartment buildings in Holyoke.
Investigators found that during the fire at 106 North East St., the local alarm sounded within the building, alerting occupants to the danger. However, there was a delay of at least several minutes before calls to 911 alerted the Holyoke Fire Department, during which the fire spread rapidly.
“This terrible tragedy reminds us to act quickly to any fire alarm,” Ostroskey said of the blaze that also displaced 49 people. “Get outside fast and call 911.”
The fire took the lives of Trevor Wadleigh, 34, who worked as a cook at Riff’s in Easthampton, and Maria Cartagena, 48, and Jorge Munoz, 55, a married couple who lived together in the North East Street building. Other tenants, some of whom lept or were dropped from windows, were severely injured.
According to the fire marshal’s office, fire alarm systems are required to be tested annually and maintained.
Sideeka received a $100, first-offense, non-criminal citation for failure to have the alarm system tested annually. Fire investigators were not able to determine if the building’s alarm system had been tested annually since it was installed in 2011, Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state fire marshal’s office said.
“Since the alarm worked properly inside the building, it is impossible to say whether the lack of regular testing would have had any effect on the lost communication between the system and the monitoring company,” according to a statement from the state fire marshal’s office.
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.