PROVINCETOWN — At midday on Sunday, April 24, a fire in an abandoned car at the Old Reliable Fish House property at 227R Commercial St. sent clouds of dark smoke over the waterfront.
The fire was doused quickly, with no injuries, when firefighters responded within two minutes of the alarm, said Fire Chief Michael Trovato.
Trovato suspects a smoldering cigarette butt caused the conflagration. The chief, other town officials, and neighbors were not surprised that another fire broke out there. The last one occurred seven years ago, inside the former fish house. Rob Anderson, an owner of the Canteen next door at 225 Commercial St., said two broken vehicles on that lot have been there since he opened his restaurant 12 years ago. The lot, the derelict restaurant, and an adjacent rundown red clapboard building owned by Scott Ravelson, he said, attract vagrancy.
“People have been living in the red building, the Old Reliable, and the cars,” Anderson told the Independent. “We have alerted the town over and over again to let them know people have been living here. We want to be sensitive to the fact that people need a place to live. But it is extremely dangerous. There have already been two fires there. This is not a question of if but when.”
Between one and five people are currently homeless in Provincetown, said Mackenzie Perry of the Homeless Prevention Council, which offers services through a contract with the town.
After the 2015 fire, the health dept. condemned the Old Reliable building and ordered owner Bradford Rose to keep it sealed and unoccupied. But Rose has been “unresponsive” since about 2016, said Assistant Town Manager David Gardner.
The Independent could not reach Rose at his Belchertown address. Rose has not paid taxes on the property or complied with orders to keep the building securely locked, Gardner added. Every spring, said Gardner, doors and windows are pried open, presumably by people wanting to take shelter.
On Sunday, at 12:50 p.m., Anderson’s husband, Loic Rossignon, heard breaking glass from their living room above the Canteen. Anderson went outside and saw “the whole space fill with black, billowing smoke and really aggressive pulsating flames licking through holes in our fence. I was waiting for it to hit the red building that is on our property line,” he said. “I was a minute away from grabbing my things and running out, when I heard the sirens.”
Trovato said he and about 10 others were there in under five minutes and were able to stop the fire before it got to the outdoor dining area at the Canteen. “The fire dept.’s response saved my property,” Anderson said.
After dousing the flames, the firefighters were left staring at old vehicles and piles of debris, bottles, and clothes. One of the abandoned trucks on the property “had been there so long, a tree was growing up in it,” Trovato said.
“We have been saying for a long time that this is an accident waiting to happen,” the chief added.
Who Is Responsible?
For years, town officials have tried unsuccessfully to get Rose, whose father, Henry, bought the 106-seat Old Reliable Fish House in 1965, to clean up that area, Gardner said.
In 2016, developer Christine Barker secured a purchase-and-sale agreement with Rose for the property. But the sale is contingent on approval of her plan to raze the building and put up a 31-room hotel with a bar, restaurant, four residential condominium units, and meeting space. Barker got all the necessary permits, including a variance to exceed the town’s 33-foot height limit with a building that is 48.7 feet above natural grade, according to the zoning board of appeals decision in the case.
But three abutters, Anderson, Ravelson, and Patrick Patrick, sued her and the town’s regulatory boards more than two years ago, stalling the sale. Barker has since settled with Anderson and recently agreed to purchase Ravelson’s property. That leaves Patrick, the owner of Marine Specialties, who told the Independent on April 25 that Barker’s proposed hotel “is bigger than what is allowed in every direction and in every way.”
Rose is responsible for keeping the Old Reliable property secure, Gardner said. Ravelson owns the building that houses the Life Is Good retail shop on Commercial Street and the empty red building behind it. Gardner said Ravelson’s property, though it is in poor shape, is locked — except for a broken window — and has a fire alarm.
Barker has been paying Rose’s back taxes for five or six years, even though she does not yet own it, Gardner said. But she is not on the hook to maintain it.
“As I do not yet own the property,” Barker told the Independent, “I have no rights to remove other people’s vehicles or belongings from the property or to actually do any improvements. My hands are tied until ownership transfers.”
At the April 25 select board meeting, Gardner said he spoke with the town’s attorney, who explained the quickest resolution would be for the lawsuit to end. Other ideas, such as constructing a fence at the town’s expense, could make the town liable for future problems and probably would not work anyway, Gardner said.
Anderson and Patrick, however, both say the town could do more.
Anderson said he spoke to an attorney who is researching legal action to force Rose, Barker, Ravelson, or the town to make the area safe. He said the property should have a fence around the perimeter and be guarded.
Patrick said the last time he spoke with Rose — about two years ago — Rose had no objection to someone else cleaning up the property.
In fact, the town was able to clear the vehicles and other debris after Sunday’s fire and board up the Old Reliable’s doors. The cleanup will cost taxpayers $7,000, Town Manager Alex Morse told the select board. Before the most recent blaze, the town could not clear the debris without a court order, Gardner said. A post-fire order from the fire chief, however, obviated the need for a court order.
