MacDonald said the property owner was paying to house the displaced residents in a local hotel last night.
John M. Guilfoil, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said the city’s main interest yesterday was safety.
“All appropriate city agencies will coordinate to ensure the structural security of the building, but right now, the mayor’s primary concern is that the people living in that building are safe and taken care of,’’ Guilfoil said.
While investigating the call at 3:25 p.m. yesterday, firefighters noticed supports missing in the basement and were concerned about the facility’s sprinkler system, MacDonald said. Sprinkler systems must be certified annually, MacDonald said, and the owner could not confirm that the fire protection system was up-to-date.
Floors one and two were vacant, but fire personnel evacuated 18 residents from 11 apartments on the third, fourth, and fifth floors, MacDonald said.
A building inspector was then summoned, MacDonald said, and the inspector checked the structure with a fire chief to determine if it was safe for the residents, who were temporarily sheltered in an MBTA bus, to return.
MacDonald said the building was not in danger of collapsing yesterday, but “there were enough issues between the structural integrity and the fire protection systems’’ to close it until further assessment is completed.
