Marshall Duncan aka William Cassidy writes the Fire Marshal

A Buddhist temple recently received an unexpected visit from the fire marshal as the result of an online complaint. The following complaint was submitted by Marshall Duncan, an alias of William Cassidy:

“There are literally hundreds of open flames in the building, candles, oil lamps and so forth. Meanwhile, dozens of people are sleeping upstairs, and the ingress and egress points are narrow. I directly asked somebody there how the Fire Marshal felt aboI ut all of this, and was told, “We’re lucky they never go upstairs when there is an inspection.” There are zip cords and cheap heaters all over the place. This is a DISASTER waiting to happen! Somebody needs to go out there and bring that place into full compliance before there is a terrible tragedy.”

Based on this inaccurate information, the fire marshal brought along two police officers to inspect the premises. What they found when they arrived were Buddhists praying and candles offered on the altars which is of course a traditional offering. Once the fire marshal saw the temple, he sent the cops home. He described what needed to be done for the building to be in compliance. The Buddhist temple is following his suggestions and working with the fire marshal to bring the building into compliance.