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"The fire department, building and housing inspectors went through and gave them a notice to vacate the property until they comply with various codes," Gray said.
The hotel at 151 N. Queen St. in downtown Lancaster was forced to send some guests to other area hotels, said Holly Bush, director of sales for the Brunswick.
"We are shut down, but our concern is for public safety," she said. "We're not going to put anybody at risk here. We're going to do everything the city asks us to do."
It was unclear Wednesday when the hotel will reopen. The Brunswick is in the midst of installing a new fire alarm system, Bush said. Fire inspectors, conducting a walk-through of the 221-room hotel Wednesday, found none working, Gray said.
"The fire inspectors checked it with smoke and it gave no audible signal nor did it convey any signal outside the building," the mayor said. "We've been with them for several years now to bring the fire alarms up to code and up to standards. They were given until June 30th to do it and it hasn't been done."
Gray said the housing and building inspectors found other code violations, such as work being done without proper permits and holes in firewalls.
"We've become increasingly concerned about the safety of buildings in light of the fire at the Stevens House," he said. "That brought that home for us."
Fire ravaged part of the Stevens House Condominiums in June, causing an estimated $340,000 in damage but no deaths or serious injuries. Officials blame a neglected cigarette for starting the blaze.
Bush said she was not aware of the specific code violations that forced the shutdown of the hotel. She said Brunswick officials plan to meet today with city inspectors.
E-mail: tmurse@lnpnews.com
