By Walter Griffin
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
UNITY, Maine — Residents attending Saturday’s annual town meeting will act on a “Lock Box Ordinance” designed to give firefighters access to secured properties.
Proposed by the Fire Department, the ordinance would require commercial and industrial buildings to install a lock box system that would enable the department to get inside if an emergency should occur.
Town Clerk Sue Lombard said Monday the lock boxes would contain keys to the properties that firefighters could use to gain access inside instead of chopping down doors or breaking windows. Keys to the individual lock boxes would be kept under the control of the Unity Fire Department.
The system also would apply to municipal and governmental buildings, multi-family structures with four or more residences that have restricted access through locked doors and have a common corridor for access to the units, and any other buildings or structures determined by the fire chief to need a lock box.
If the ordinance is approved, property owners would be required to install the boxes within one year of its enactment or on a schedule set by the fire department. Those failing to do so could be subject to fines of $100 per day. Buildings with full-time security personnel on site would be exempt.