Saint John’s boardwalk patio remains closed, city asking fire marshal to reconsider temporary plan

The City of Saint John says it will ask the provincial fire marshal to reconsider a temporary plan, allowing patio occupancy on the renovated boardwalk.

The provincial fire marshal issued a shut down order for the open-air patio, adjacent to Market Square, on Thursday.

The patio, which has been part of boardwalk construction for the past three years, only re-opened on June 1 before the sudden shut down was ordered.

The Market Square restaurants continue to serve customers inside as normal.

According to the city, a contingency plan to have a security guard monitor 24/7 for fire was approved by the Saint John Fire prevention office (which according to the city, was acting on behalf of the provincial fire marshal’s office) while construction of a permanent fire suppression system continued.

Ultimately, the provincial fire marshal rejected the interim plan of a fire watch.

The Office of the Fire Marshal has declined multiple interview requests since last week.

Ian Fogan, the city’s commissioner of utilities and infrastructure, said additional parts of the patio’s permanent fire suppression system had become active since the shut down order, including its alarm and sprinkler components.

“We’re hoping with the systems being active, and having confirmed that today, that we can re-engage with the Office of the Fire Marshal and see if we can get fire watch back in place… with the systems being active,” said Fogan, at Monday night’s city council meeting. “We don’t know how they’ll react to that, given that they’ve already ordered closure once.”

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In a written statement Monday afternoon, the Department of Public Safety said occupancy would be granted by the fire marshal once there was “completion or substantial completion of construction.”

Fogan said there wasn't a firm timeline for completing all work and tests on the open-air patio’s permanent fire suppression system, adding the scope of the project wasn't found in current building codes.

“It would require that all these systems be completed, be tested, be signed off by their respective engineers, and then the integrated system’s testing be completed by RJ Bartlett in order for occupancy,” said Fogan. “We began working toward that, at the same time trying to convince the Office of the Fire Marshal to allow us interim occupancy. And currently, we’re still working both of those directions, to see if we can reoccupy the patio.”

Saint John city councillor David Hickey said re-opening the open-air patios was a top municipal priority.

“We’ve considered everything,” said Hickey. “We’ve offered everything within our capacity.”

Fogan said the city would conduct an ‘after-action review’ on how the June 1 opening led to a shut down order.

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.