The two motels in Baker City closed Monday due to fire safety code violations reopened Thursday after fixing the problems, Baker City Fire Chief John Clark said.

Clark closed the Super 8 motel and Motel 6 on Monday after inspecting the buildings and finding multiple violations, including the disabling of the alarm system at Motel 6 and the partial dismantling of the sprinkler system at the Super 8.

A complainant, whom Clark has declined to name, reported the violations to the Fire Department Monday morning.

Clark said this morning that the family that owns both motels brought in two contractors this week, one of which worked about 16 hours on Thursday, to fix the problems.

He allowed both motels to reopen Thursday evening.

Clark said managers told him all the rooms at the Super 8 had been reserved for tonight. The annual Baker City Cycling Classic bicycle stage race starts today and continues through Sunday.

Clark said that although he considers closing a business a “last resort,” it was also the only reasonable option given the problems at the motels. He said the management at both had been aware of the issues for about two months.

“We don’t want the motels to have money lost but we also have an obligation to protect the public,” Clark said.

He said the Fire Department will continue to conduct annual inspections of all motels in the city, with a goal of doing those in March and April, before the busiest tourism season.