GREAT FALLS — The Chili's restaurant in Great Falls is temporarily closed. A sign on the door dated Wednesday, March 9, 2022, states the closure was ordered by Great Falls Fire Marshal Mike McIntosh due to fire code violations.
While the exact nature of the violations haven't been released, McIntosh said there were multiple violations.
McIntosh explained, "The Chili's restaurant in Great Falls was closed down because they have numerous fire code and mechanical code issues that they are trying to work to get addressed. The fire department and the building department has been working with them for quite a while to get these issues resolved and they just haven't been able to make the headway on getting the code issues taken care of.
He added, "This has been an ongoing process with this restaurant for quite a few months now. We did work with them throughout the summer months to address a lot of the code issues and they did go through and correct those at that time, so they did not have to be closed during the summer. Recently, these code issues have re-arisen again, and they have not gotten them corrected, so therefore, we had to go through the process of closing the restaurant down until they comply with the fire code and mechanical code requirements."
McIntosh said that it is not common to shut down a restaurant due to a situation like this, but due to safety reasons, it will remain closed until Chili's fixes the violations.
"This is something we don't like to do." Mcintosh said. "The fire department, the building department, the City of Great Falls do not like to have to close businesses down. When we do, we realize it not only affects the local employees that are there, but it affects the local community as well. So we do everything in our power to achieve compliance with the codes so these businesses can stay open. Unfortunately in this situation, that wasn't able to happen."
MTN called the restaurant on Thursday evening and again on Friday; no one answered, nor was there any recorded message. We will update you if we get more information. Chili's is located at 1420 Marketplace Drive in southwest Great Falls.
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