MASS. LAGS IN SECURING VACANTS:

Communities across Massachusetts have been slow to enforce fire safety requirements mandating that vacant buildings be boarded up and marked to warn firefighters the buildings are abandoned and should be entered with care. Many officials say that because of cutbacks in fire department budgets, they lack the staff to inspect and put signs on vacant buildings in their jurisdiction. State fire officials also say they do not have a statewide database of abandoned buildings, and are hampered by real estate continually changing hands and being renovated. A new law requires property owners to submit floor plans for vacant buildings to police and fire departments. The state building code was changed, requiring all 351 cities and townsto follow regulations for boarding up vacant structures and posting 2-foot-square red-and-white signs on abandoned buildings considered to be a safety hazard, in the wake of a warehouse fire in Worcester that claimed the lives of six firefighters.