JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Jackson has 10 days to contact the State Fire Marshal with plans for Thalia Mara Hall, days after an inspection conducted there revealed multiple violations of the International Fire Code.
A letter and corresponding report were sent to Auditorium Manager Angela Ladner on September 11, two days after the marshal received a complaint about “life safety issues” at the 2,000-seat auditorium.
Deputy State Fire Marshal Jonathan Owens and Deputy State Fire Marshal Zach Purvis inspected the facility on the same day the complaint was received.
Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Mike Chaney ordered the inspection and said if the city doesn’t present the plan, Thalia Mara could be “red-tagged,” or shut down.
“What we’re trying to do is get the city to address the fire hazard,” he said. “The reason for that is because of the fact that they have received a lot of money over the last 10 years to fix the building, and nothing’s been done that I’m aware of.”
A WLBT report this week revealed that Jackson has received some $5 million in allocations from the Mississippi Legislature since 2022.
About $1.55 million of that was used to address needs at Thalia Mara ahead of the 2023 International Ballet Competition. Nearly $2 million left over from a 2022 and 2023 allocation has not been spent, while another $1.5 million has been authorized but not made available for the city to draw down.
The report includes 22 violations of the IFC, with inspectors finding multiple open junction boxes, multiple out-of-date fire extinguishers, blocked exit doors, an unlit exit sign, and combustibles being stored around a flammable storage locker.
Photos show one fire extinguisher near the maintenance and spotlight room was last inspected in 2022/23. The main fire alarm panel on the first floor, meanwhile, was completely blocked off by dozens of stackable chairs.
The Mississippi Insurance Commission also inspected Thalia Mara’s elevator, noting at least nine issues, including problems with its emergency signal lighting, the restricted opening of doors, and problems with the hydraulic power unit.
The letter, which was signed by State Chief Deputy Fire Marshal Connie Dolan, also mentions two other health issues: “mold that is growing throughout the facility – floors, seating, rails, etc.” and “human waste products… along the upper balcony on the outside of the building.”
A copy of the report also was sent to Deputy Director of Human and Cultural Services Mike Williams, Tiffany Murray, executive assistant to Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and Council President Virgi Lindsay.
Jackson Director of Communications Melissa Faith Payne could not be reached for comment and denied our request for an interview with Williams. Williams also couldn’t be reached directly.
In an earlier text Friday, Payne said the city was “providing weekly updates on [Thalia Mara Hall] via our website” and that “any information that you guys need is on the website.”
The Thalia Mara tab on Jackson’s website was updated on September 12. However, it did not reference the Fire Marshal’s September 11 letter.
Lindsay said the document was “another alarming report,” and that the city already has a “team of professionals working on the facility, and I look forward to hearing their plan to remedy these issues.”
Lindsay was referring to the city’s ongoing contract with Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons, an architectural and engineering firm in Jackson.
At its meeting earlier this week, the council amended its agreement with CDFL to allow it to draw up plans for phase two of renovations at Thalia Mara, which includes replacing an air conditioning chiller, removing the escalator, adding a new elevator, repairing the existing elevator, and making plumbing repairs.
[READ: Jackson has access to nearly $2 million to repair Thalia Mara. Why hasn’t it been used?]
The Fire Marshal’s inspection comes about a month and a half after the Pascagoula Street facility was closed due to mold, and a week after Ladner told WLBT that conditions there were so bad that she was afraid someone would get hurt.
“No internet, no elevator. We didn’t have an elevator this entire year. We had no ADA access,” she said. “I’m screaming at the top of my lungs, emailing weekly reports, everything. But meanwhile, we’re slammed. We’re in the middle of symphony season, Broadway. We were slammed all year.”
Chaney said there will likely be a follow-up inspection, telling WLBT there are “some issues that we didn’t cover in the report.”
“We still have to go back and look at them. We didn’t have enough time to finish, but the fire curtain on the stage has got to be replaced. The elevators have to be checked out again… The two escalators are not operating,” he said. “We will have to fix the escalators before we let them operate.”
Chaney was unaware of the city’s plans to remove the escalators as part of phase two but said he supports the idea.
“I think that’s a game plan,” he said. “We’re very careful about letting escalators operate without being inspected and in good repair.”
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