By Sara Kugler of The Associated Press
The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
Copyright 2007 Newark Morning Ledger Co.
All Rights Reserved
NEW YORK — The first major modernization of New York City’s building code in nearly 40 years was outlined yesterday and reflects lessons learned about emergency evacuations and fire safety after the 2001 World Trade Center attack.
Thousands of people fled the Twin Towers before they collapsed, but many who perished were trapped on the upper floors of the buildings after exits had been compromised. There were also reports of chaos and crowding in the stairways, with office workers trying to get down as firefighters climbed up.
Wider stairwells, smoke-proof evacuation routes and emergency power generators for more types of skyscrapers are among the code’s proposed updates that were inspired by the Sept. 11 disaster.
Many more categories of buildings would also have to have automatic sprinklers, and buildings more than 300 feet tall would be required to provide a secondary water supply system serving that network. Also, all high-rise buildings in the city would have to have exit path markings that glow in the dark; currently, that rule applies only to high-rise office buildings.
“There’s a lot in this code that’s going to make the town a lot safer,” said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.
PUSHING FOR MORE
Glenn Corbett, a fire science expert who pushed for a building code overhaul after the Trade Center attack, served on a technical advisory committee for the revisions.
He said the new code is a significant improvement, but doesn’t go far enough in some areas, like the use of steel bar joists, which formed the floors of the Twin Towers.
It is difficult to adhere fireproofing material to these joists because of their complex shape, and experts believe that was a factor that led to the collapse of the towers. The new code outlaws these joists in commercial skyscrapers, but not in apartment buildings.
“If we aren’t allowing them in office buildings, we shouldn’t be allowing them in residential buildings, or any high-rise for that matter, until we figure out a way to properly fireproof them,” said Corbett.
In addition to skyscrapers, the code overhaul includes regulations for all other types of buildings. The changes include broad requirements for automatic sprinklers in residential buildings, and fire alarms that are hard-wired to electrical systems.
Those are significant modifications; dwellings like the three-story Bronx home where 10 people died in a fire this year, if built after the code is adopted, would have those reinforcements. The townhouse that was occupied by two immigrant families had two smoke detectors, but the devices did not have working batteries.
The new set of building rules also contains environmentally friendly changes, like requiring structures to have white-colored or highly reflective roofs to ease the burden on the cooling system.
The hefty building document will have to be approved by the city council before it goes into effect. The proposed update is a multiyear project that incorporated 400 outside experts and their input from a range of areas like construction, real estate and fire safety.
A HIGHER STANDARD
The revision is modeled after a set of standards known as the International Building Code, which the city says will help developers and builders, because the regulations are typically used nationwide and will be more easily interpreted.
The code in use today is essentially the product of multiple layers added on over many decades, and is considered so cumbersome and contradictory that building owners, architects and contractors are often forced to hire lawyers and consultants to interpret the dizzying regulations, union leaders said.
“The trouble with codes is that we constantly add and you never take anything away, and invariably you start to have so many levels that you don’t accomplish what you’re trying to do ... because nobody can really follow it,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.