New London ― During an inspection of the vacant former Shalett’s Cleaners on Montauk Avenue, inspectors with the city fire marshal’s office found squatters had created makeshift bedrooms in the basement.

At a Crystal Avenue apartment building, inspectors discovered that the property owner had created bedrooms in two different units on Crystal Avenue by walling over stairwells and eliminating their use, creating a potential deadly situation in the event of a fire.

An annual report issued by the fire marshal’s office this month reveals numerous hazardous situations, from a wood-burning grill used for heat inside a third-floor apartment on Bank Street to an illegal attic apartment on Connecticut Avenue with the only exit being a 4 1/2-foot-tall door.

It’s a small sampling of what inspectors encounter.

Inspectors are in and out of multi-family buildings every day in the city, performing safety code inspections, responding to complaints or investigating causes of fires, Fire Marshal Vernon Skau said.

Activity in the fire marshal’s office spiked by 16% last year, an increase that Skau attributes to the hiring of a second fire inspector, Nicholas Brown. Brown completed his certification in July. Skau said he expects activity in the office to jump again next year with Brown now fully certified and focusing on residential inspections and investigating complaints.

“That’s a great thing because prior to hiring Nick it was just myself and (Fire Inspector David Heiney),” Skau said.

Skau said that even with the increase in manpower and inspections, he expects his office will still inspect only 27% of the buildings required by state law each year. Under that law, fire marshals from all state municipalities are expected to make annual fire and safety inspections of every building with three or more apartments, along with places like businesses, day care centers, vacant buildings and schools.

The city conducted 401 inspections last year out of the estimated 1,475 eligible properties. The inspections include checks of items like sprinkler systems, fire alarms and accessibility of exits.

“It’s a heavy lift,” Skau said. “When you look at all of the the properties and all of the responsibilities of our office in totality, it’s a lot of work.”

Inspections are only one part of what the fire marshal’s office does throughout the year. The office also performs time-consuming investigations into the causes of fires, supervises building inspections, is part of the city’s emergency management team and reviews plans for new construction and renovations.

In the area of fire investigation, the report shows 277 “fire-related investigation activities,” in 2023, a 58% drop from 2022 when Skau said there were multiple arson-related fires, which required more activities even though the number of fires did not change.

Fires that are criminal in nature, Skau said, require hours of investigative work compared to the run-of-the mill “food on the stove” investigations, which Skau said top the list of the 40 to 45 fires reported in the city each year.

Among the varied kinds of living conditions encountered by inspectors are hoarding situations and other causes of concern for a resident’s safety, such as an individual living in squalor.

New London Human Services Director Jeanne Milstein said she is in constant communication with the fire department when there is a resident or family in need.

Skau said his office often works in conjunction with the city’s building department, the Ledge Light Health District and Milstein.

“That is what’s amazing about the city of New London,” Skau said. “The city has a lot of moving parts to help people.”

g.smith@theday.com