Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Emergency communication systems to be mandatory in high rises

From Crains:

Residential buildings more than six stories tall would be required to have emergency communication systems in stairwells, according to legislation proposed Monday by freshman City Councilman Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) in response to a deadly Hell's Kitchen blaze earlier this month.

"The tragic death at The Strand was entirely preventable," Mr. Johnson said in a statement following a City Hall news conference, referring to the Jan. 5 inferno on the 20th floor of 500 W. 43rd St., at the corner of 10th Avenue.

When 27-year old Daniel McClung and his 32-year old husband Michael Cohen attempted to evacuate the building via an emergency stairwell, smoke from the fire billowed into their path, killing Mr. McClung and critically injuring Mr. Cohen.

The legislation would create a way for first responders and building managers to advise residents on the safest course of action during an emergency. In this case, the system might have been used to alert Messrs. McClung and Cohen to take another route or stay in their home.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The safety flaws in high rises....I wouldn't want to live in a high rise not even if I could afford to live in one.

Anonymous said...

unfunded mandate?

Nobody can complain about rents and common charges always rising. Services have to be paid somehow.

Anonymous said...

Yea, just like the system they had in the World Trade Center...

telling people to go back to their offices...

Anonymous said...

This shit law does nothing since its the new buildings that are bad.

Ban the greedy cheap developers from placing elevators, services, stairs, all inside a single central core.
All this "curtain wall" design that originated in Japan for quick, cheap & roomy using hopper cranes that hang floors outward around a central column (core).
ALL deathtraps like the WTC !
Emergency stairs should be in all 4 outer corner's of the building's.
These greedy developers are placing $$$ over safety & integrity placing all the eggs in one basket !

The corruption & payola going on with building in this "racketeer city' needs an enema from the feds