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Practices would be twice yearly

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

On the eve of today's Sept. 11 remembrances, Mayor Tom Murphy proposed a law requiring all high-rise buildings citywide, both residential and commercial, to stage evacuation drills twice each year.

The measure would affect some 300 buildings that are seven stories or taller, and require building owners to submit detailed plans for evacuating them during emergency situations, including explosions and chemical spills.

All residents, employees and other building tenants would be required to receive copies of the plans.

According to Murphy, many lives in New York City were spared after hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers last year because the buildings' tenants were familiar with evacuation drills.

While a handful of Pittsburgh skyscrapers have held drills since last September, the practices are not frequent.

"What we discovered after 9/11 is many buildings in Pittsburgh have never had an evacuation," Murphy said.

In related news, Murphy said city police increased their patrols at high-risk buildings after the U.S. Office of Homeland Security put cities on high alert yesterday, but "there is no information right now that there is any threat to the city of Pittsburgh."

The FBI's Pittsburgh Division office started a command post yesterday that will be active through Sunday.

Murphy's building evacuation measure, to be introduced to City Council next week, will be the first legislative step taken by a Emergency Management Advisory Council Murphy named last year to improve the city's emergency preparedness after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The bill would require buildings to evacuate no less than 50 percent of their occupants twice yearly; evacuate all occupants every three years; notify city officials before each scheduled drill; and practice different kinds of evacuation procedures -- for bomb threats, chemical spills, fires, earthquakes, civil disturbances, violent behavior, explosions and inclement weather or floods.

The cutoff for complying with the requirements was set at seven stories because the city Fire Bureau's aerial ladders can only reach six stories safely. The ladders can stretch about 100 feet, but higher than 82 feet they are unsafe, Fire Chief Pete Micheli said.

The emergency plans would be in addition to the fire evacuation plans building owners already submit to the city. Like the fire plans, the so-called "All Hazard Plans" would be filed with the city emergency management director and posted in buildings where tenants could find them in emergencies.

If Murphy's bill is approved, the new plans would have to be submitted to the city within 90 days and safety drills conducted within 180 days.

John Java of the Building Owners and Management Assoc., who helped write Murphy's ordinance, said it gives building managers flexibility to schedule drills and to write procedures that fit their individual buildings and tenants.

"It's adaptive. It's an outline plan, quite frankly," he said after a news conference in Murphy's office.

Murphy said his advisory council is still working with the Port Authority on a Downtown evacuation plan. A traffic consultant will be hired next month to study how to get buses and cars out of Downtown by making thoroughfares such as Route 28 and bottlenecks like the Liberty Tunnels one-way outbound.

The city has purchased an automated phone dialing system that can call and notify every city resident of emergencies, and Murphy said officials are working on a "Citizens Corps" that will train a resident of every city block in emergency response measures.

The mayor estimated the cost of all the emergency programs at $10 million. He appointed a task force to study paying for the initiatives through federal and state grants.

In other remarks Murphy urged residents to call 911 if they notice any suspicious activity today.

At the same time, he and Deputy Police Chief Charles Moffat urged residents not to be spooked by a scheduled 10 a.m. flyover of an Air Force jet during a service today at the Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, Uptown. The hospital is just blocks from Downtown skyscrapers.

The city will be flying its flags at half-staff and Murphy urged flag owners around the area to do the same.