Exclusive: Philadelphia Licenses And Inspections To Enact Stricter Standards For Fire Escape Safety Amid Controversy

By Crystal CranmoreDecember 12, 2019 at 5:45 pmFiled Under:Local, Local TV, Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections, Philadelphia News

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Questions by CBS3 have prompted Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections to enact stricter standards to ensure fire escapes are safe and capable of helping residents flee a fire. During the winter, there are more fires than at other times of the year.

The Philadelphia Fire Department says there have been 35 fire deaths so far this year.

Flames recently ripped through a Germantown apartment building, and residents — who chose not to be identified — say escaping the fire was not easy.

“I thought we would perish on that fire escape. We went down to the fire escape and the bottom part didn’t work,” one resident said.

One man says he jumped to safety from the second floor.

“I should have waited for the ladder, but I didn’t,” he said.

Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections Department says the fire escape was in working condition that night of Jan. 21.

But the residents’ accounts of what happened raised a bigger question — was the fire escape up to code?

(Credit: CBS3)

National fire escape expert Cisco Meneses examined it for CBS3 right after the fire.

“You can see rust, that’s just with the naked eye. Someone signed off and they shouldn’t have,” Meneses, founder of the National Fire Escape Association, said.

L&I cited building owner “5721 Morris LP” with an unsafe violation in October 2017. That initial inspection was required by a new city ordinance. It says all building owners must have their fire escapes and balconies inspected.

Even though the fire escape passed reinspection four months before the fire, L&I documents show the fire escape is still not up to code. The department reissued violations in October 2019.

“There was a finding by an engineer that the fire escape was safe with repair,” L&I spokesperson Karen Guss said. “Those unsafe concerns in that first unsafe report, some of those were never addressed.”

Guss says two different engineers inspected the fire escape.

So, why did L&I go with the safe report?

“They thought the second report resolved the unsafe concern,” she said.

The confusion is now prompting L&I to take action and strengthen its regulations for fire escapes and balconies.

“You contributed to this realization when you asked about the ordinance. We realized we needed to firm up the meaning of safe with repair. Too nebulous to monitor, it did not have clear deadlines for action,” Guss said. “If a property is safe but needs work done within six months, then you can tell us that it is safe with repair. And we will monitor for that six-month period to make sure that work gets done.”

An attorney for the Morris Street property said, “My client is not aware of an unsafe condition. There is another inspection being conducted by L&I and if there are any unsafe issues, my client will make the necessary repairs.”

The June fire balcony collapse at the Lexington Apartments in West Philadelphia also raised safe-with-repair concerns. Two people were injured. L&I says it’s not sure if repairs were ever made because it never received the inspection reports.

A spokesperson for the Lexington Apartments could not comment because of litigation. Going forward, L&I says it is dedicating more manpower for enforcement.

“If those repairs are not done, we will take them to court,” Guss said.

Currently, 32 unsafe fire escapes in Philadelphia need repair.

CRYSTAL CRANMORE

More from Crystal Cranmore

PA Firefighter Recovers from Rooftop Fall

Raw video captures Harrisburg crews battling a blaze that damaged five homes and injured a firefighter following a first-floor fall.

SEAN SAURO NOVEMBER 18, 2019

THE PATRIOT-NEWS, HARRISBURG, PA.

A firefighter who fell from a first-floor rooftop while battling a Saturday night blaze that damaged five houses in Harrisburg is now at home recovering from his injuries, city fire Chief Brian Enterline confirmed.

As of Sunday afternoon, Enterline said the cause and origin of the blaze on the 2000 block of Briggs Street had not yet been determined.

“We are still investigating and need to talk to some people yet,” he said.

The fire, which burned its way through five attached homes, was reported about 10 p.m. Saturday, when firefighters were dispatched and spent the nighttime hours battling flames.

At least three of the five buildings were fully involved, with heavy flames showing, when firefighters arrived, Enterline said in a video recorded at the scene. All five buildings were “significantly damaged,” and seven adults and one child were displaced, officials said.

Those displaced by the blaze received assistance from the Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania.

While battling the flames, a firefighter fell from a first-floor roof attached to one of the homes, Enterline said, explaining Saturday night that the firefighter was “in good condition.”

That firefighter was transported from the scene of the blaze to Hershey Medical Center. By Sunday afternoon, he had been released from the hospital and is now recovering at home, Enterline said.

The firefighter — whose name and exact injuries were not revealed — will not immediately return to work, Enterline said.

“He’ll be off for a little bit recovering,” he said.

No residents were injured by the blaze, Enterline said.

In a video recorded shortly after the fire, Enterline explains that he was unsure where the blaze originated because of significant damage to the wooden-frame row homes.

The origin and cause of the blaze remained a mystery Sunday afternoon.

“It can sometimes take a week or two, and we may never know the exact cause,” Enterline said.

———

©2019 The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)

Visit The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) at www.pennlive.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Two men critically injured in West Philly balcony collapse

By

• • WHYY Staff

June 25, 2019

This article originally appeared on PlanPhilly.

—

Two men were critically injured Tuesday in the collapse of a third-floor fire escape landing in West Philadelphia, police said.

It wasn’t immediately known why the men were on the landing or why the fire escape collapsed.

The collapse occurred shortly after 10 a.m. in the rear of a building on the 4200 block of Chester Avenue, police said.

A 36-year-old man who suffered head trauma and a 31-year-old man who suffered trauma to the left side of his body were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Police said the older man was in extremely critical condition and the other was in critical condition.

An investigation is underway.

The building, known as The Lexington, is owned in record by 4207 Chester LLC and managed by the Altman Management Company. City records do not show any recent building code violations.

Correction: A police spokesperson earlier misidentified the affected building as 4205 Chester Avenue.

fire in apartment building – Germantown Philadelphia.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019 05:04PMPHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Residents ran out into the frigid cold after a fire broke out in an apartment building in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

The trees surrounding the building now look like icicles, and cars parked on the street are covered in ice, after firefighters doused the building with water to put out the flames.

The fire started around 11:30 p.m. Monday along the 5700 block of Morris Street in the 6-floor apartment building.

Arriving crews saw flames shooting out of a third story unit.

Residents reported hearing a fire alarm and many self-evacuated.

“When I go on to the elevator to check all the floors, I see this massive black smoke that was coming fast,” resident Ronald Marsh said.

Richard Woodhouse woke up to flames in his apartment. He said people were screaming to him to get out.

“I seen people coming down the fire escape and from the fire escape, I seen flames shooting out the building,” Woodhouse said.

Three people were taken to Einstein Medical Center with unspecified injuries.

Now, some residents who have lost everything are wondering what happens next.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people are out here in the cold and we are suffering and I hope things will get better here,” resident Steve Broadax said.

Charlie Donley, who lives next door to where the fire happened, helped his neighbors in need.

“I let a couple people in to use the bathroom because I figured where else are they going to go; four or five people came in and I gave them some drinks,” Donley said.

Because of the freezing temperatures, the Office of Emergency Management was immediately called to assist.

“It was freezing. That was the part that really I felt bad about was just how cold it was and those people had to leave their houses with whatever they had on,” Donley said.

About three dozen residents are staying at Central High School in the Red Cross’ care.

It was similar frozen sight on the 300 block of North Front Street in Old City where firefighting efforts led to the block being encased in ice.

Expert says Philly fire escape law not being followed

By Tom MacDonald
April 25, 2017

 

A deadline is rapidly approaching for inspecting every fire escape in Philadelphia.
The requirement took effect this year, but grew out of a fatal 2014 accident.
July 1st is the deadline for every property owner who has an exterior fire escape to get them inspected.
Francisco Meneses is founder of the National Fire Escape Association and a specialist in testing and repair.  He says there is no way all the fire escapes in the city can be properly tested in time to make the deadline.
“We would have gotten calls people looking for these things to get done and I haven’t gotten a call or reviewed anybody else’s report because we would have gotten a copy of the report saying, hey how much to fix this fire escape,” he said.
Councilman Curtis Jones says he’s concerned that the inspections aren’t being done and is thinking about another bill to make those who fail to have the inspections done face tougher penalties.
“We’re going to do stronger enforcement and those penalties on the books, we will apply,” Jones said.
The Department of Licenses and Inspections says it does not have an accurate count of the outdoor fire escapes in Philadelphia but has a form on its website where people can report them.

Many City Fire Escapes are “Ticking Time Bombs”

By Kelly Bayliss

Published Feb 26, 2014 at 3:55 PM | Updated at 3:02 AM EST on Feb 27, 2014

In the wake of last month’s fatal fire escape collapse that killed a 22-year-old man and injured two women, Philadelphia residents are concerned about the safety of thousands of old fire escapes, and a national fire escape expert tells NBC10, they should be.

Francisco Meneses is an inspector with the National Fire Escape Association. Meneses and NBC10’s LuAnn Cahn took a walk through a few Philadelphia alleyways and discovered that most of the fire escapes they saw are what Meneses calls, “ticking time bombs.”

“This is going to fall,” Meneses says of one fire escape. “This has eaten its bolt and it’s doing the best it can to hold on.”

The particular fireplace of concern is one of many just blocks away from where 22-year-old Albert Suh fell to his death from a Locust Street apartment fire escape on January 12.

Was Fire Escape Up to Code?

City officials are investigating if a fire escape that collapsed was up to code. A 22 year-old man died as a result of a fall from the Rittenhouse Square fire escape.
(Published Monday, Jan. 13, 2014)

Officials say Suh and two women went onto the landing of the fire escape when it suddenly came loose and collapsed. The victims, police say, fell 35-feet to the ground.

According to a spokesperson with Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I), fire escape inspections are required only at the time of installation or if someone makes a complaint to L&I. The fire escape responsible for Suh’s death may not have been inspected for 50 years, which was the time of installation.

“We have hundreds of thousands of structures in this city, many that have fire escapes,” personal injury attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said. “It is impossible for the city to go out and inspect all of them. What it needs to do is have a set of regulations that imposes the burden on the owner to make sure the property is adequately inspected and maintained.”

• Third Victim in Fire Escape Collapse Hires Lawyers

Philadelphia Councilman Kenyatta Johnson says that landlords should be able to prove their fire escapes are safe. The problem with that, is that escapes are expensive to repair and so some landlords don’t make repairs unless they’re forced to and without required inspections, there’s no one on their backs to make sure their building’s fire escapes are safe.

Councilman Johnson is hoping to sponsor legislation that could change fire escape safety procedure.

If you believe your escape is unsafe, L&I recommends calling 311.

Fire escape collapse leaves one injured in Brewerytown

BREWERYTOWN (WPVI) —

A fire escape collapsed in Philadelphia’s Brewerytown section on Tuesday, sending one person to the hospital. The Action Cam was there as a man was wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher just after 2 p.m. Though officials aren’t releasing much information, we know it happened in an alley near 29th Street and Girard Avenue. Firefighters on scene say the man may have been trapped underneath the fire escape when it fell.

Allentown house fire displaces at least 20; two injuries reported

Frank WarnerContact ReporterOf The Morning Call
Flames broke out Friday night in the second floor of a four-story building near Seventh and Chew streets in Allentown, and drove out the residents of six apartments.
The blaze was reported 8:45 p.m. at 314 N. Church St., a brick apartment house behind the church on Chew Street.
Residents fled as Church Street filled with smoke. Witnesses said an entire room on the second floor was on fire, but they said they didn’t know what ignited the flames.
“It was a fire on the second floor, in the rear apartment,” city fire Capt. John Christopher said. “That apartment sustained heavy fire and heat damage. The fire also extended to an apartment on the third floor, in the area of the bathroom.” The rest of the building had significant water and smoke damage.

Two adults and two children lived in the apartment where the fire started. All utilities were turned off. All residents will have to find homes elsewhere until repairs are made.
“There’s going to be at least 20 people displaced because we had to shut down the whole building,” Christopher said. “We’re escorting people back into their apartments to get necessities, like a change of clothing and medications, but none of them can stay.”
The American Red Cross was asked to help the displaced with temporary lodging and other supplies.
At least two people appear to have suffered minor or moderate injuries, Christopher said. One was a firefighter who fell down a flight of stairs. He was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital-Allentown for a checkup.

The family who lived in the second-floor apartment went together to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Allentown. Christopher said officials believe at least one child in that family was treated there.
Allentown firetrucks were on the scene within seconds of the initial dispatch. Three alarms were called as reports came in of children in the building. Firefighters scrambled up a fire escape to check how far the fire had spread, and began hosing down the flames.
Walls and part of a ceiling had to be pulled out to attack hidden fires, and the blaze was declared under control within 45 minutes. A few hot spots broke out minutes later on the third floor, but the flames were put out fast.
“All in all, despite the confusion, it was a good, quick knockdown,” Christopher said.
Before they left, firefighters searched the building from top to basement to make sure everyone was accounted for.
The building has seven apartments. Six had tenants. One was unoccupied.
fwarner@mcall.com
610-820-6508

Action News Investigation: Dangerous Philadelphia fire escapes

By Wendy Saltzman
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) —
The pressure is on for Philadelphia lawmakers to tighten lax inspection laws which critics warn have resulted in catastrophic fire escape collapses across the city. For the first time on camera, the victims involved in a fatal accident in Center City are speaking out to Action News saying the death of 22-year-old Albert Suh should have been prevented. Remnants of police tape in an alley at 22nd and Locust mark the spot where one life was lost and two others narrowly survived a devastating collapse on the night of January 12, 2014. “It was like the loudest rumbling crash I had ever heard,” Laura O’Brien said. It was O’Brien’s first time standing on the balcony with two roommates, during a party they threw for a friend’s birthday. But the celebration quickly turned tragic. “My arms went over my head. I went straight down so quickly,” O’Brien said. O’Brien survived the fall. She broke her back and fell into a hole beneath the stairway. One other roommate was also seriously injured. “I could hear my roommate Nancy yelling,” O’Brien said. Albert Suh did not survive. “The first thing I thought was that’s not possible,” Suh’s older brother Min said. “I’ve lost my brother.” Three months later on April 11th, City Council’s Committee on Public Safety held a hearing on the collapse. “It is a statement to me that our fire professionals won’t even use fire escapes because of the condition or the varying condition they may be in,” Councilman Curtis Jones said. It was revealed there are absolutely no requirements for inspecting emergency fire escapes in Philadelphia, even structures that are 20, 30, 50 years old. “We don’t need any more tragedies here,” Councilman Bobby Henon said. “These are accidents waiting to happen. They have happened before this incident occurred in other parts of the city and they will happen again,” attorney Shanin Specter said. Specter represents O’Brien and Suh and is suing the landlord, who says he’s not responsible. An attorney for Kline and Specter testified at that hearing, questioning why Philadelphia has not adopted the current 2012 International Fire Code. That code requires an inspection every five years. But instead, the city still follows the outdated 2009 version which lacks inspection standards. “They are taking their lives into their hands. This is something that needs to be addressed and addressed now,” Specter said. Depositions revealed the four floor fire escape on 22nd and Locust had not been inspected in at least 12 years and would most likely have malfunctioned in the case of an emergency, possibly carrying multiple tenants and even first responders. “It was grossly structurally unsound for it to collapse with only three people on it,” Specter said. We took those concerns to the Public Safety Chairman, Councilman Curtis Jones. “We mourn their loss as well as they do. And we are going to do something so it doesn’t happen again,” Jones said. Jones agrees fire escapes need to be inspected at least every five years. “This could have been prevented,” Min Suh said. The question is who will do the inspections and who will pay for it. “We pass laws all the time, but sometimes people ignore that. So we want to be able to pass a law, have it paid for, and then have it enforced,” Jones said. We pushed Jones on a date for that new law. He said he thinks he can get funding for inspections in the budget starting July 1st to train inspectors and he hopes to pass a bill within the fiscal year. At issue is who would pay for the inspections. Council is considering the landlords who will pass that expense on to renters. But over a five year period with multiple tenants, Specter estimates the cost should be minimal, just pennies a month to ensure residents safety.

Man injured after jumping out third floor window to escape fire

 Man injured after jumping out third floor window to escape fire. Gray Hall reports during Action News at 9 a.m. on October 14, 2017. (WPVI) ABC6 – FRANKFORD (WPVI) — A man was injured after jumping from a third floor window to escape a fire in Philadelphia’s Frankford section. Firefighters were called around 7:30 a.m. Saturday to the 4600 block of Leiper Street for a small fire inside an apartment. When they arrived on the scene, firefighters found the victim suffering multiple injuries from the jump. There is no word on the victim’s condition. Firefighters are still investigating what sparked the blaze. Sunday, October 15, 2017 07:16AM

Philadelphia’s L&I Needs Your Help Locating City Fire Escapes

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections is asking for your help in a public safety campaign. It’s trying to track down every fire escape in the city. City Council passed a law, last year, requiring building owners to get every fire escape on their property inspected. L&I spokesperson Karen Guss says the department received 400 reports by the July 1st deadline. But there’s a problem. “Philadelphia, like almost every city, has no central data base of fire escape locations,” said Guss. She says the city decided to crowd source the locations. “We built an app that’s on our website and you can tell us, ‘I saw a fire escape and here’s where it is,’” Guss explained. Guss says if they find one with no inspection report, the owner will be cited, though the main goal is to get them inspected. “Folks have a grace period. We very much want them to file those reports now,” Guss said. The law was inspired by the tragic 2014 death of 22-year-old Albert Suh, killed when the rusty fire escape he was sitting on crashed to the ground near Rittenhouse Square. Source: CBS Local Philadelphia KYW1060 All News. All the time. @Pat Loeb Pat Loeb’s radio experience has the makings of a country song: she lived a lot of places, went down a lot of roads, but they all led her home — to Philadelphia and to KYW Newsradio, where she started her career some 30 years ago. Born and rais… More from Pat Loeb

Fire Escapes Can Save Lives, or Take Them!

Fire Escapes Can Save Lives, or Take Them!

Philadelphia Property Owners Required to File Fire Escape Inspection Reports by July 1st 2017.

The tragic January 12th 2014 fire escape collapse which took the life of one Philadelphia student and severely injured two others when they fell 4 stories while smoking out on a fire escape balcony initiated the City Council’s review of the condition of fire escapes in Philadelphia.  They discovered that an overwhelming majority of fire escapes throughout the city are compromized structurally and have never been maintained since installation.  Most fire escapes are over 50 years old and are also covered in lead paint.  These findings resulted in this requirement:

“The owner of any building with fire escapes or fire escape balconies shall be responsible for retaining a Professional to conduct periodic inspections of the fire escapes and fire escape balconies, and to prepare and file a report on such inspection with the owner. All fire escapes and fire escape balconies must be inspected and the reports submitted by July 1, 2017.

A summary of that inspection must be submitted to the Department of Licenses and Inspections on a form titled: “Summary Inspection Report of Fire Escapes and Fire Escape Balconies”.

The City of Philadelphia’s Property Maintenance Code requires all building owners to maintain their buildings in good repair, structurally sound and sanitary so as to not impose a threat to the public. Additionally, the Fire Code establishes specific requirements for periodic inspections of fire escapes and fire escape balconies and the filing of reports of such inspections. This document serves to inform the public of the method of reporting those inspections to the Department.”

See Section F-1011.1 of the Philadelphia Fire Code for more details: www.FireEscapesPhiladelphia.com

The expert witness in this fire escape collapse case, FranCisco Meneses of the NationalFireEscapeAssociation.org, teaches seminars nationwide to Fire, Building and Housing Officials on Fire Escape Awareness as well as classes on Fire Escape Industry Standards and Procedures and Property Owner Liability.  The condition of fire escapes in Philadelphia are no different to cities throughout the country where fire escape inspection and maintenance codes were non existent or not enforced for 100 years.

“I celebrate the City of Philadelphia’s focus on this public safety issue and the decisive upgrade of these exterior structures. Finally, fire escapes in Philadelphia will save lives instead of take them.” – Cisco Meneses

Philadelphia developed a new application to help citizens map locations of Fire Escapes throughout Philly

Fire Escape Breaking News! The next big Fire Escape Tsunami wave has officially touched ground-zero in the city of Philadelphia, that is, because Philly’s Fire Department and Department of Licenses and Inspections just released an application, called “Fire Escape Crowdsourcing”; that will help identify and officially map Fire Escapes throughout the city in preparation for July 1st, 2017 upcoming mandatory inspections. http://phl.maps.arcgis.com/apps/GeoForm/index.html?appid=865ee36b9ab14590a51d4d2aa8f9c951 Fire Escapes Bill No. 160462, passed by City Council last year, amended the Philadelphia Fire and Property Maintenance Codes to require that building owners have fire escapes and fire balconies regularly inspected by a licensed professional engineer with experience in structural engineering. Pursuant to the bill, the engineer must conduct an inspection, provide the building owner a full report on the inspection, and submit a summary of the report to L&I. The inspection report must include a classification of the condition of the fire escape/balcony or façade as Safe; Unsafe; or, if the condition is not currently Unsafe but will become so unless specified repairs and maintenance are completed, as Safe with a Repair and Maintenance Program. If the report:

• Identifies any Unsafe conditions, you have 24 hours to take actions necessary to protect public safety, including posting notice of the condition inside the building; 3 days to apply for necessary permits to repair the fire escape/balcony; and 10 days to begin work to correct the condition. Following the repairs, the engineer has two weeks to reinspect and submit an updated report.
• Identifies any conditions as Safe with a Repair and Maintenance Program, you are responsible for taking the actions identified in the report to keep the conditions from becoming Unsafe.
• Classifies your fire escapes/balconies as Safe, they will be tagged with weather-resistant placards that include the date of inspection and the date of the next required inspection.

Due Date: Inspections, reports, and summaries are due July 1, 2017, or ten years after the construction of your building, whichever comes last, and then every five years thereafter. If you have restored your fire escapes/balconies since June 30, 2016, you may request an extension of the due date for your first inspection by contacting L&I at fireescapereports@phila.gov. For more information and required forms, please see the L&I website at http://www.phila.gov/li/Pages/PermitsCertificates.aspx.

Deadline to Comply is Fast Approaching

Deadline to Comply with New Fire Inspection Requirements is Fast Approaching

Article from The National Law Review

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The deadline to comply with the new inspection requirements mandated by the recent amendment to the Philadelphia fire code is fast approaching.

In the wake of a fire escape collapse in Center City that caused one death and two very serious injuries, the City of Philadelphia reviewed whether to mandate the inspection of fire escapes. Ultimately, the City of Philadelphia enacted a bill that amended Section F-1011.1 of the Philadelphia Fire Code. This amendment requires building owners to conduct very specific inspections of their building’s fire escapes and fire escape balconies. A report of the inspection must be filed with the Department of Licenses and Inspections (“L&I”).

The initial deadline for filing these inspection reports is July 1, 2017. If the construction of the fire escape or fire escape balcony was completed after July 1, 2007, the first inspection must be conducted within ten years after construction of the fire escape or fire escape balcony was completed. For any fire escapes or fire escape balconies that underwent a restoration within one year prior to July 1, 2017, the building owner may apply for an extension of the initial inspection. Thereafter, building owners must file inspection reports every five years following the submission of the initial report.

A “fire escape” is defined by the ordinance as “a system of metal landings, balconies, stairs, or ladders attached to a building that are not classified as an exterior stairway and are intended or designed to aid in egress from a building in an emergency.” A “fire escape balcony” is defined as “a balcony that projects from the building face and is intended for use in conjunction with a fire escape, an exit stair, or an area of refuge.” Given these very broad definitions, care should be taken not to omit any required component from the inspection.

Only a Pennsylvania licensed professional engineer who is experienced in the practice of structural engineering can perform the inspections. The inspection report must reference all conditions of the fire escape and fire balcony including, but not limited to, significant deterioration, movement, and mechanical operations.

If an unsafe condition is found, then the engineer must immediately notify the owner and, within 12 hours of discovery, notify L&I’s Emergency Services Unit. Within 24 hours of receiving notice of an unsafe condition, the owner must take any and all actions necessary to protect public safety. Within 10 days of receiving a report identifying an unsafe condition, the owner must commence remediation of the unsafe condition and work continuously without interruption until the unsafe condition has been corrected.

If the engineer determines that the condition is safe, so long as certain repairs and maintenance are undertaken, then the owner is responsible for complying with the engineer’s instructions within the time frame specified in the inspection report. If the fire escape or balcony is determined to be safe by the engineer, then the engineer shall post upon the fire escape a tag or placard (made of weather-resistant reflective material) that clearly and legibly states the date of the inspection, the date by which a new inspection is required (five years from the last inspection), and the name and contact information of the engineer who conducted the inspection.

COPYRIGHT © 2017, STARK & STARK

ACTION NEWS INVESTIGATION:

DANGEROUS PHILADELPHIA FIRE ESCAPES

Wednesday, May 06, 2015
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) —
The pressure is on for Philadelphia lawmakers to tighten lax inspection laws which critics warn have resulted in catastrophic fire escape collapses across the city.
For the first time on camera, the victims involved in a fatal accident in Center City are speaking out to Action News saying the death of 22-year-old Albert Suh should have been prevented.
Remnants of police tape in an alley at 22nd and Locust mark the spot where one life was lost and two others narrowly survived a devastating collapse on the night of January 12, 2014.
“It was like the loudest rumbling crash I had ever heard,” Laura O’Brien said.
It was O’Brien’s first time standing on the balcony with two roommates, during a party they threw for a friend’s birthday.
But the celebration quickly turned tragic.
“My arms went over my head. I went straight down so quickly,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien survived the fall.
She broke her back and fell into a hole beneath the stairway.
One other roommate was also seriously injured.
“I could hear my roommate Nancy yelling,” O’Brien said.
Albert Suh did not survive.
“The first thing I thought was that’s not possible,” Suh’s older brother Min said. “I’ve lost my brother.”
Three months later on April 11th, City Council’s Committee on Public Safety held a hearing on the collapse.
“It is a statement to me that our fire professionals won’t even use fire escapes because of the condition or the varying condition they may be in,” Councilman Curtis Jones said.
It was revealed there are absolutely no requirements for inspecting emergency fire escapes in Philadelphia, even structures that are 20, 30, 50 years old.
“We don’t need any more tragedies here,” Councilman Bobby Henon said.
“These are accidents waiting to happen. They have happened before this incident occurred in other parts of the city and they will happen again,” attorney Shanin Specter said.
Specter represents O’Brien and Suh and is suing the landlord, who says he’s not responsible.
An attorney for Kline and Specter testified at that hearing, questioning why Philadelphia has not adopted the current 2012 International Fire Code. That code requires an inspection every five years. But instead, the city still follows the outdated 2009 version which lacks inspection standards.
“They are taking their lives into their hands. This is something that needs to be addressed and addressed now,” Specter said.
Depositions revealed the four floor fire escape on 22nd and Locust had not been inspected in at least 12 years and would most likely have malfunctioned in the case of an emergency, possibly carrying multiple tenants and even first responders.
“It was grossly structurally unsound for it to collapse with only three people on it,” Specter said.
We took those concerns to the Public Safety Chairman, Councilman Curtis Jones.
“We mourn their loss as well as they do. And we are going to do something so it doesn’t happen again,” Jones said.
Jones agrees fire escapes need to be inspected at least every five years.
“This could have been prevented,” Min Suh said.
The question is who will do the inspections and who will pay for it.
“We pass laws all the time, but sometimes people ignore that. So we want to be able to pass a law, have it paid for, and then have it enforced,” Jones said.
We pushed Jones on a date for that new law.
He said he thinks he can get funding for inspections in the budget starting July 1st to train inspectors and he hopes to pass a bill within the fiscal year.
At issue is who would pay for the inspections.
Council is considering the landlords who will pass that expense on to renters. But over a five year period with multiple tenants, Specter estimates the cost should be minimal, just pennies a month to ensure residents safety.

City Council To Consider Mandatory Fire Escape Inspections

City Council To Consider Mandatory Fire Escape Inspections Following Deadly Collapse Last Year

(Credit: Justin Udo)
Mike Dunn
By Mike Dunn PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A deadly fire escape collapse in Center City 18 months ago has prompted a proposal in City Council to require building owners to have their fire escapes inspected every five years. Councilman Curtis Jones says many fire escapes in Philadelphia are aging, few have ever been inspected, and some are used by tenants for smoking and carousing: “What we find them to be morphed into are smoking lounges and party locations. And we need to make sure that they are fit for first responders and residents, to be able to navigate in the case of emergencies.” Jones has now introduced a sweeping overhaul of the city’s slim fire escape regulations. Under his plan, building owners would have to pay for safety inspections of the structures every five years. Then the city would install medallions on the escapes that pass inspections to mark them as safe. “They certify it. They stamp it. We put the medallion on it. And then when a fire truck comes up, and a first responder has to look up, they can look for the reflector in the day or night, and be assured that ‘I can put myself on that.’” Under the measure, a building owner who learns that his fire escape failed an inspection would have one day to take corrective action. The proposal was prompted by the January 2014 collapse of a fire escape at 21st and Locust Streets in Center City. One person died and two others were injured. Jones’ measure will be debated in committee after Council’s summer recess.

Fatal Philly fire escape collapse

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Leonia man identified as victim in fatal Philly fire escape collapse

PHILADELPHIA — The 22-year-old man who died after a fire escape collapsed at a historic Center City building on Sunday morning was identified by authorities Monday as Leonia resident Albert Suh.

According to the Associated Press, Suh and two women, ages 25 and 26, were smoking cigarettes on the fire escape of the 108-year-old John C. Bell apartment building when the iron landing collapsed, sending the trio 35 feet to the ground.

Suh, of the 100 block of Leonia Avenue, was pronounced dead after sustaining head and neck injuries, according to police. The other two women were listed in stable condition with serious back injuries.

The three were attending a party at the historic property, which was built in 1906 and is on the city’s historical registry.

The building, once home to Pennsylvania attorney general John C. Bell, has not been inspected in over 50 years, according to a report on NBC 10. The Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) issued five violations after a post-accident inspection, finding the conditions of the fire escape deteriorated and “imminently dangerous,” according to the agency’s website.

Suh graduated from Penn State in June with a degree in economics, according to his LinkedIn page. His LinkedIn page lists him as an employee of JP Morgan Chase.

A family friend told The Record that Suh moved to Leonia a few years ago with his parents and two brothers after having lived in Port Washington, NY.

Attempts to reach the family Monday night were not successful.

By James Kleimann | NJ.com 
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on January 13, 2014 at 9:11 PM, updated January 14, 2014 at 7:16 AM

West PA Residents Questioning Fire Escape Safety

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Residents are questioning the safety of the building after two people were critically injured when a fire escape balcony collapsed at an apartment complex in West Philadelphia on Tuesday morning. It happened at Lexington Apartments on the 4200 block of Chester Avenue, shortly after 10 a.m.

According to police, two men were on the third-floor rear balcony when it collapsed.

A 36-year-old man suffered head trauma and was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in extremely critical condition.

A 31-year-old man suffered trauma to the left side of his body and was also taken to the same hospital in critical condition. “Initially we sent a technical rescue response and it turns out that wasn’t needed but our medics transported a couple folks to the hospital,” Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said. Neighbors were horrified following the incident. “All of a sudden I hear a clang and then a guy screaming for help,” Bridgette Saverine said. “I saw just the guy laying down on the ground and that’s when I started seeing EMTs come and they were helping him out, so I wanted to give them their privacy and pray for him.” Tyler Santos, who is an off-duty EMT, was among a small group of people who rushed out of their apartments to help until paramedics arrived. “They were holding his head straight maintaining c-spine, making sure that his cervical column was in line,” Santos said. “And there was nothing really you could do from that point besides apply pressure to the head where there is profuse bleeding.” Residents say the balconies are emergency exits and not connected to any individual apartments. Some are now questioning the safety of the building. “Yeah, I’m pretty surprised. I mean, it’s an older building but it’s not in complete disrepair,” Jonathan Lynch said. “It could have been anybody.” Altman Management, which runs the apartment complex, has so far refused to comment. Philadelphia License and Inspections issued a notice condemning the fire escapes. It’s plain to see the balconies at the Lexington do not have braces the way the ones on the adjacent apartment building do. CBS3’s Cleve Bryan contributed to this report.

Lawsuit: Man fell through rusty fire escape

By Carrie Bradon | May 6, 2019

PITTSBURGH – An East Pittsburgh man is suing the owner and operator of his apartment over allegations it failed to maintain the fire escape.

Dominic C. Pennick filed a complaint on April 23 in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas against Donda Development Inc. alleging negligence.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges on May 17, 2018, he was attempting to use the fire escape at the back of the apartment building to retrieve his neighbor’s garbage and he fell through the rusty escape and was injured.

The plaintiff alleges his fall was a result of the defendant’s failure to properly maintain the fire escape. 

The plaintiff is seeking all reasonable sums due and court costs. The plaintiff is represented by Wayne M. Chiurazzi of The Chiurazzi Law Group.

 

Reading man jailed after burglary at apartment house

READING, PA – City police arrested a man after he broke into an apartment house in the same south Reading neighborhood where he lives, investigators said Monday.Terence R. Barber, 29, of the 400 block of South Fifth Street was taken into custody shortly before noon Saturday. Police said that Barber was arrested after one of the residents of the building he had entered about an hour earlier called to report that he had confronted the suspect. Barber was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail after arraignment before District Judge Victor M. Frederick IV in Reading Central Court. He is charged with burglary, trespassing and receiving stolen property. According to police: A tenant in the building, also in the 400 block of South Fifth, called 9-1-1 after hearing a window breaking on the floor above. Police arrived and spoke to another resident of the building, who led officers to the kitchen, where there was a broken window and glass on the floor. The man said that he was asleep but awoke when the door to his room opened. A man later identified as Barber started to enter the room. When he saw the room was occupied, he said, “Someone let me in.” He then closed the door and fled. The victim got out of bed and went down the stairs to the kitchen. He saw the intruder leaving through the window, going down the fire escape and running north in an alley. The victim said that he had seen the same man sitting on the steps of the building in the same block. About an hour later, he called police to report he “caught” the suspect. The victim identified Barber as the person inside the building. A witness said that he found a necklace belonging to the victim with Barber while speaking to him in Barber’s home. Source: READING EAGLE Tuesday November 28, 2017 12:01 AM

Apartments condemned after fire

BY KELLY MONITZ
Published: August 28, 2015

West Hazleton officials condemned the second-floor apartments where a small fire occurred Wednesday evening, displacing more than a dozen people, an assistant chief with the borough fire department said Thursday.

Era Gould said the fire was contained to a small porch and fire escape at 6½ E. Broad St. The damage to the fire escape was the reason for condemnation, he said, as the tenants had no means of egress.

The American Red Cross is assisting three families, a total of 14 people, with temporary lodging and food, spokesman Dave Skutnik said.

Code enforcement was expected to return to do a full inspection as other code violations were noticed at the building, Gould said.

Code enforcement officer Diane Panzarella said Thursday that she was drafting a notice of violation to the building owner, who will have rectify the problems before the tenants can return.

She noted an emergency exit light wasn’t working and light covers were missing, but she said she did not inspect the apartments. Panzarella plans to do so, but when the tenants are there, she said.

The businesses on the first floor were not damaged in the fire, Gould said.