3, according to fire department and Inspectional Services records. The city held a “task force” inspection of UpperWest two months earlier, on Aug. We have never used candles for cooking at the tables.” “The only letter that we received asked us to comply with an attached regulation that said we could not allow customers to cook at the tables with candles without a fire permit. “We have not received a cease and desist letter,” Courtney said in an Oct. That order, relying on an irrelevant law, was never made in writing, according to documents in UpperWest’s active file at the commission and others shared with Cambridge Day. It is that subsection of state law about “portable cooking equipment” that Cambridge’s License Commission and fire and police officials don’t just refer to in emails and during at least one visit to UpperWest, but rely on in asserting that the restaurant was asked to cease and desist in the use of candles. Boston news reports show no record of restaurant or bar fires resulting from use of tea lights or votives. In comparison, Boston – also governed by state regulation – allows candles without permit or permission and has long offered the public a three-page document that defines candle types, includes an eight-point section just about votive and tea lights and ends with an application for candles “that do not meet the definition of votive or tea light.” But Boston’s fire department “does allow the use of votive and tea lights in restaurants, banquet halls and similar function facilities without a permit or requiring a paid detail, provided they are used in compliance with regulations,” the document says. 7, four days after fire officials visited UpperWest and said it would “be determined” if candles were allowed, the fire regulation site still had no page about candles. 29, acting chief of the fire department Gerard Mahoney – who also makes up one-third of the commission with the police commissioner and a chairwoman – declined to answer because the “matter is currently under investigation.” When the question was appealed to the City Solicitor’s Office, city spokesman Lee Gianetti responded that “the fire department indicates that the use of candles in restaurants in Cambridge is governed by the Massachusetts Fire Safety Code.” Renewed requests for information last week were ignored. The candles at UpperWest aren’t used for cooking – they’re mood-setting tea lights, also referred to as votive candles, set out on the business’ bar and tables inside small glass containers.Īsked directly what statute that was being violated at UpperWest that drew fire inspectors Aug. Rather than the mysterious new law, the letter cites the same state statute cited in emails, official communications and visits to UpperWest about “portable cooking equipment,” such as a flame or heat source used for fondue. UpperWest’s Kim Courtney and Xavier Dietrich were summoned to the disciplinary hearing in an Oct. Meanwhile, fire and police officials have repeatedly cited a state law that they seemed to think proves UpperWest – and every other Cambridge restaurant and bar, dating back decades – cannot set out candles. When you leave the room or go to sleep, put it out and make sure it is out. Keep the candle away from combustibles, children, and pets. If you must use a candle, never leave the candle unattended. 4 the department was tweeting out candle safety advice and making no reference to the notion that it “does not allow the use of candles” without permission: Screen captures of the cached Web page show how recent the addition is, and the order didn’t exist when the owners of the business, called UpperWest, researched whether candles were allowed in Cambridge restaurants – in fact, as recently as Sept. That’s because the fire department, with no public process, added something that at least looks like a law to its website saying so: “The Cambridge Fire Department does not allow the use of candles unless approved by the Fire Prevention Bureau.”ĭepartment and city officials have been silent when asked about the unannounced addition to its website, but it was done in advance of a Wednesday disciplinary hearing before the License Commission over the use of candles at a North Cambridge wine bar and charcuterie. If you lit a candle in Cambridge for any purpose within the past few weeks without first going to the fire department for permission, you have broken the law. At UpperWest, the North Cambridge wine bar and charcuterie, votives such as the one at left were used during a fire department visit in August, and jarred tea lights such as the one at right were in use when fire officials came again in September.
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