City Hall Turns to Human Alarms as Aged System Fails

An alarm went out at City Hall this week because the alarms went out at City Hall this week.

During routine maintenance Thursday, city workers found that most of City Hall’s fire alarms didn’t work. That is a potentially dangerous situation in a building where, City Hall quipsters were quick to note Friday, there is no shortage of hot air.

Not wanting to get burned for non-compliance with state fire codes, City Manager John Lockwood has ordered the hiring of extra security guards to patrol each floor in the 13-story downtown building until the alarms are repaired or replaced.

‘At Least They Can Yell’

“We’ve gone from a non-working mechanical system to the human alarm system, for the time being,” said Terry Flynn, director of the city’s General Services Department. “That’s a step forward. At least they can yell, ‘Fire!’ ”

The guards, costing the city about $1,200 a day, are equipped with walkie-talkies that, in the event of a fire, would be used to alert the other floor monitors to evacuate the building.

Since there has not been a major fire at City Hall in its 24-year history, Lockwood acknowledged that there is little likelihood of the guards’ lung power being put to the test.

“But we’re doing exactly what we’d require a privately owned high-rise to do under the same circumstances,” Lockwood said. “We’re not cutting any corners--or doing anything extra--just because it’s City Hall.”

Because the alarms were installed when City Hall was built, replacement parts are scarce, raising doubts about whether the system can be repaired, Flynn said. However, a decision on whether to fix or replace the system will be made after a $2,500 consultant’s report is completed early next month.

Use of Job Trainees

If a new system is needed, city bidding procedures could take up to two months. To avoid having to continue to spend $1,200 daily for the security guards during that time, Lockwood explained, the city hopes to turn the fire-watch chores over to participants in a federal job-training program, who would work at no expense to the city.

In the meantime, the private guards will continue to patrol the halls of City Hall from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Throughout the day Friday, Lockwood said, the guard made frequent passes by his ninth-floor office.

“He sticks his head in, and I nod back, indicating, I guess, that I’m not on fire, and then he moves on,” Lockwood said, chuckling.

The fire-alarm problem spawned a lot of one-liners and jokes within City Hall Friday--none of them likely to make Jay Leno feel threatened. There were cracks about hot debates and burned-out council members, as well as jokes about this being just another fire needing to be put out at City Hall.

Even Mayor Maureen O’Connor got into the act.

“I think I’m going to move my office to the first floor,” O’Connor said from her 11th-floor suite.

To that, Lockwood provided his own snappy retort.

“Tell her it’s too late,” he said. “I’m already there!”