Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services won’t disclose the name of a local landlord who was recently fined $120,000 for multiple violations of the Ontario Fire Code. The department won’t even publicize the address of the rental property that triggered the investigation.
But court documents obtained by SooToday reveal the full story.
According to the court records—which are publicly available to anyone who requests them—the hefty fines were issued to a numbered company operated by Jim Brogno, a Sault Ste. Marie landlord who owns four properties in the city. Brogno made headlines in January when he announced the permanent closure of The Canuck.
The property at the centre of the high-profile charges is 314 Albert Street East, a 15-unit rental building that is well-known to both the fire department and the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service.
On Feb. 24, Brogno’s numbered company was found guilty of all nine provincial fire code offences related to the building. He was given 30 days to pay all fines.
Here is a breakdown of the offences and the corresponding fines:
- records of ongoing fire safety maintenance equipment not made available on site ($10,000)
- holes through walls, stairwells and rear exit hallway/corridor ($10,000)
- fire doors wedged open ($10,000)
- combustible materials accumulated inside and outside to create a fire hazard ($10,000)
- fire safety plan not prepared and approved ($40,000)
- portable extinguishers not replaced or maintained ($10,000)
- central alarm not checked daily ($10,000)
- obstructed exit ($10,000)
- no documentation indicating fire alarms were checked and replaced ($10,000)
Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services Deputy Chief Paul Milosevich told SooToday that the fire department attempted to gain compliance from the landlord numerous times.
“In this case, an order was written,” Milosevich said. “The owner didn’t comply. We went back and checked on it, they didn’t comply, so we reached out and told them: ‘You need to comply.’ This went on several times, to the point where we’re left no other recourse than to proceed with charges, which we do on a fairly routine basis.”
Milosevich said that while the such code violations are common, the dollar amount of the fines handed down by the court is extremely rare.
“I could tell you in my career, that’s one of the higher fines that I’ve heard of or I’ve seen in my time,” said Milosevich. “But in the province of Ontario, there’s been fines like that, and even more, in the same realm. It’s not very common here.”
Brogno is also on the hook to repay the municipality for the ‘corrective actions’ taken by fire services after it initiated repairs related to fire safety at the property. Milosevich said recovery of costs is common in many pieces of provincial legislation, including the Fire Protection and Prevention Act.
“He wasn’t doing the work that we had ordered. We have people in the building that are in an unsafe condition, so at some point, we proceeded with charges,” said Milosevich. “That doesn’t make the people safer, so we took it upon ourselves to hire a contractor and get this work done, and then there will be a cost recovery process through the city levied to the owner to pay the bill.”
In an interview with SooToday, Brogno said it’s “unbelievable” how the fire department and the courts took action against him considering the circumstances, which included squatters and homeless individuals “going in there and basically taking the [expletive] building over.”
“It was out of my control,” Brogno said. “I had hired a guy to [expletive] help me through it — couldn’t get them out. One night, he kicked 19 people out.
“They went in there and destroyed my building.”
Windows of the building were getting smashed, Brogno said, and tenants were receiving threats from squatters. Fire services installed a fire panel after the first two — the original and the replacement Brogno paid to have installed — were ripped out entirely. Some windows were subsequently boarded up in an effort to keep the squatters out.
“We called the police on a number of occasions to help us get rid of the squatters. This is a Sault Ste. Marie issue, and when nothing gets done at the top, it trickles down and it hurts the residents — not just me, I’m not the only one going through this,” said Brogno. “I mean, you take a look at why there are windows boarded up in Sault Ste. Marie — the windows aren’t boarded up in Sault Ste. Marie because people don’t want anything to do with their properties anymore, the boards are up to keep people out.”
Brogno, who owns three other properties locally, said that he plans to appeal the fines.
He is also trying to part ways with the property, according to an active MLS listing. The sale price is $329,000.
"Attention cash flow investors!” the listing says. “Huge potential income stream with a gross potential income of $117,000.00 yearly. This property offers 15 rooms with shared bathrooms, 2 bachelor suites and a 1 bedroom apartment perfect for an on site superintendent. Many units are currently vacant and ready for the new owner to screen tenants and fill the spaces. Recent upgrades include the fire alarms, security/intercom/surveillance systems, upgrades to the gas furnace and some electrical updates. Book your viewing today.”
According to land registry documents, Brogno’s numbered company purchased the Albert Street East property on April 30, 2021, paying $220,000 in cash.
On Sept. 13, 2021—less than two weeks after the fire inspection that triggered the charges—Brogno remortgaged the property for $200,000, at an annual interest rate of 10 per cent.
On November 8, 2021, the property was subject to an investigation by the Integrated Municipal Enforcement Team, as community safety officers with Sault Ste. Marie Police Service attended 314 Albert Street East at the request of city by-law officers to assist with an inspection, which resulted in several by-law and provincial fire code infractions.
Jason Reid, senior advisor for fire and emergency management with National Life Safety Group, said fines under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act were increased in 2019 in order to send a strong message to building owners that fire code compliance is the required standard in order to protect residents from the dangers of fire.
“While $120,000 seems to be a lot, there are also tenants living in this building and they should be afforded the exact same care as 100 per cent of every other building in the country,” Reid said in an interview.
Last month, the Sault Ste. Marie fire department announced the fines in a press release—but refused to name the landlord or the property address.
When SooToday asked Milosevich why the department refused to disclose those details, he said there are policies in place in terms of how it handles releasing information to the public.
“The reason is, we don’t believe it’s necessary. The person’s already been charged, the individual has already gone through the court system - they have to pay the fines,” said Milosevich. “We don’t believe their name should be put in there so they’re judged by the public opinion as well.
“That’s not just our opinion, but that was our legal department’s opinion. They asked us, when we do media releases, just to leave it as a general statement. There’s no gain for us - we certainly don’t receive the money from the fines, that’s provincial offences. We use it as a deterrent, so other owners out there know that they’re liable for these sort of fines if they don’t take corrective action.”
- with files from Denise Paglinawan