State fire marshal talks about Lake Mountain Middle School delays

A school in Saratoga Springs school delayed opening its doors. Classes were scheduled to start last week, but the state fire marshal has not yet given his approval.

When the State Fire Marshal Coy Porter went perform the inspection last week, it was clear that the school wasn’t ready.

Palettes with materials stacked on top were scattered around the main corridors of Lake Mountain Middle School.

“They had quite a bit of finish work still to do which would have created a lot of construction dust,” Porter says.

The dust was an issue because it would have interfered with a test of the fire alarms.

The smoke detectors had dust covers installed on them.

To perform the fire alarm tests the dust covers on all of the smoke detectors would need to be removed.

Following the test, the dust covers would need to reinstalled.

They set another inspection date for this coming Monday. The construction had delays out of their control at the beginning of the project. The Alpine school District says they will wait till the all clear before telling students and parents and teachers a firm start date.

The long-delayed new middle school in Saratoga Springs will have this weekend to get ready for their inspection.

They fire authorities will go back Monday morning. Porter says the district, community and contractor have all been patient with each other over delays outside of their control.

Porter says it is not uncommon to give a temporary occupancy permit, because the construction company will still have work to do on the other parts of the school when the kids are in.

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