Workers Forced to Leave Great American High-Rise for the Second Day

One day after it was emptied for an electrical fire, the Great American Building downtown was evacuated again Tuesday after firefighters determined that the structure’s safety systems were not working.

Many workers leaving the building on Tuesday took the second evacuation philosophically, but others expressed outrage at lost time and money in the repeated forced shutdowns of their offices. Despite assurances by building management that there are no ongoing problems with the building’s electrical system, some workers said it was the fourth or fifth time there had been electrical problems in the building in less than one month.

Some employees of firms occupying the upper floors of the 24-story structure at 600 B St. said they feared for their safety. Built before a 1976 city code required new structures to have a full fire sprinkler system, the building has sprinklers only on the first floor and basement.

“There is some sort of problem that exists and there are a lot of people who are very upset,” said attorney Elizabeth Schulman, as she prepared to evacuate her office on the 20th floor. “There are secretaries telling their bosses they should move out of the building.”

In the wake of Monday’s fire, electricians worked throughout the night to patch up the system. The building was declared open to employees at 8 a.m. Tuesday, said Great American spokesman Ken Ulrich.

But hours later, the structure was shut down for the third time in two weeks, and an interoffice memorandum from the building management was circulated informing workers that the structure was being vacated because the public address system, smoke detectors and fire alarms were inoperable due to the electrical damage sustained in Monday’s fire.

The memo, issued at 3:30 p.m., said the source of Monday afternoon’s fire was a short in one of the main 480-volt lines, which deliver power throughout the building. The small fire was contained in a fireproof enclosure but a great deal of smoke traveled up the building’s air ducts into the upper floors, the memo said.

Building management said they expected to have the safety system problems fixed by late Tuesday night. Ulrich, speaking on behalf of Great American employees, said they will be expected to report to work at their usual hour this morning.

Fire Marshall Jim Sewell, however, said no one will be allowed inside the building today unless the Fire Department has certified that the alarm system is working and that the building management has people standing by to serve as emergency fire watches in case the system fails.

On Tuesday, after the Fire Department declared the building unsafe in mid-morning, the building management was given the option of placing two people on each floor with walkie-talkies. Management decided they would be unable to comply “due to the unavailability of knowledgeable manpower with such short notice,” the memo said.

Building manager Colin Stillwagen was unavailable for comment Tuesday and failed to return repeated phone calls.

Sewell said the city Fire Code require that all high-rises have emergency evacuation plans.

“We were told there was a plan in place for the entire building,” Sewell said. “We asked if the plan worked (on Monday) and we were told the plan was intact and it worked well.”

On Monday, Ulrich credited a voluntary “fire warden” plan--using employees armed with flashlights--for the orderly evacuation of the building during the electrical fire.

On Tuesday, however, Ulrich clarified his comments and said the plan applied only to about the 450 Great American bank employees who occupied 50% of the building.

Several disgruntled building tenants not affiliated with Great American said Tuesday that they knew of no evacuation plan for the remainder of the workers, and said they were not told to evacuate Monday but simply fled when smoke began to fill their offices.

“I was on the 14th floor and there wasn’t an alarm or anything,” said paralegal Jo Strasberg, who works for the law firm of Sullivan McWilliams Lewin Markham. “I didn’t really know what was going on, but suddenly everybody started going downstairs.”

Sewell said he was told that one warning message was broadcast over the building’s public address system, but Strasberg and others said the message was indecipherable.

Strasberg said she and the others made their way down darkened stairwells and did not encounter anyone with flashlights until they reached the fourth or fifth floor.