Fire Chief: Berkshire Mall Was Closed Due to ‘Lack of Power’
Last week, the Berkshire Mall was closed for a day due to, reportedly, a fire alarm malfunction. After Live 95.9 spoke to Lanesborough Fire Chief Charlie Durfee, that apparently was not the case.
The Berkshire Eagle spoke to Berkshire Mall General Manager Jim Ruiz who claimed that two fire alarms were malfunctioning which forced the mall to close on Thursday.
Durfee shared the department's side of the story with us.
"That was not the reason the mall was closed," Durfee told Live 95.9. "The mall was not closed due to malfunctioning alarms -- it was closed due to lack of power."
The mall would reopen on Friday.
"If it was a faulty alarm, we would've just put a fire watch on and made sure a couple of extra people were there to make sure there wasn't any problems," Durfee explained. "If there's no power, then you can't run your mall because you can't run your lights. You can't run your computers. You don't have anything. If they have no power, they have to close. It wasn't because of the fire department."
Lanesborough Fire Inspector Tom Rathbun would be the one to make the call to shut down the Berkshire Mall if it was needed. Durfee said he was in constant communication with Rathbun and that conversation did not happen.
"He never told them to shut the mall down," Durfee stated.
This was the fourth time that the Berkshire Mall has temporarily shut down this year, and the second time in a matter of weeks.