TEMPLE, Texas (KXXV) — Temple Mall is temporarily closed after fire inspectors found multiple safety violations, including broken sprinkler systems, malfunctioning fire alarms, damaged exit components and electrical hazards.
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The Temple Fire Marshal's Office issued a compliance notice last month after inspectors discovered the violations. The mall was given 30 days to make repairs.
The city says the closure on Monday is temporary and will remain in effect until the mall repairs all violations found.
For residents like Cecilia Jones, the closure hits close to home. Jones walks the mall's halls regularly, describing a space that has gone from bustling to nearly empty.
"Awful. It's very depressing. Makes it easy to walk, but it's very, yeah, it's, it used to be so much more than this," Jones said.
Jones said she has seen some work being done inside the mall.
"When we one of the days we walked, I don't remember if it was a Thursday, they were in testing the fire alarms over on the other side by the movie theater. Yeah, so that's all I've actually seen was them working and they were testing them and they would come out and say it's just an alarm we're just testing," Jones said.
Fellow Temple resident Elia Rutherford has also made the mall part of her routine since moving to the area three years ago, using it as a place to escape the Texas heat.
"Well, we've only lived here three years and we've been walking here since we first started and it's one of the places you can come where you don't have to be out in the heat and, and it's pretty safe, but it's also pretty sad to see it in this condition that everybody's moved out and there's just no life in here anymore, but we're, we're, we're kind of sad about it because we really do like it. We like the mall," Rutherford said.
Rutherford said she is not optimistic about the mall's future.
"I'm hopeful that they are staying open, but I, it doesn't seem like they're going to. That's just my gut reaction. Things seem like they start getting worked on and all of a sudden it stops, so I don't think there's enough interest to bring it back to life," Rutherford said.
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