MW Horticulture fails inspection, fire marshal says conditions still aren’t acceptable

Reporter: Michelle Alvarez Writer: Matthew Seaver
Published: Updated:
mulch fire MW Horticulture
Credit: Nancy Piper

The MW Horticulture mulch facility in south Fort Myers must stay shut down after a string of violations. The San Carlos Park fire marshal says an inspection shows the conditions at MW Horticulture still aren’t acceptable.

The inspection comes after a mulch pile at the facility burned for ten straight days last month, causing firefighters and neighbors a lot of trouble.

According to San Carlos Park fire, the fire marshal determined the cause of both fires last month to be internal combustion caused by mismanagement of the property.

During Wednesday’s inspection, the fire marshal found this facility is not in compliance, and that the stop-work order will remain in effect.

The stop-work order will remain in effect until the site is brought into fire code compliance and there is no active smoldering on site. Until then, MW Horticulture is prohibited from bringing any new material into the property, but it doesn’t stop them from operating on the property.

“Those inspections will occur weekly until they come into compliance with the fire code. If the business does not believe that they have attained that, and essentially, you know, doesn’t want to bring us out there and have this have them fail again, they have every right to cancel that inspection, and then we will move it to the following week,” said Alexis McLellan, with the San Carlos Park Fire Department.

WINK News reached out to the owner of MW Horticulture who responded, but did not address the inspection.

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