BY JACK J. MURPHY JR.
The Rules of the City of New York, Local Law 5, enacted in 1973, established fire safety criteria that must be met in every high-rise building with a "Class E"-type fire alarm system (FAS). A high-rise FAS has a two-way voice system and a fire command center (FCC) in the lobby of each building. An FCC was present in each World Trade Center (WTC) tower and the other four buildings within the Plaza on September 11, 2001.
Local Law 5 also specifies that a certified fire safety director (FSD) must be present in the FCC of every high-rise office and hotel building when a box alarm is transmitted to the fire department. The FSDs, under the current law, do not have to be dedicated, meaning that they need not perform solely the job functions of fire protection and emergency action. However, the WTC building management did have a dedicated FSD, to ensure an appropriate life safety response. This dedicated FSD and a crew of nine, who made up the complex fire safety team, staffed the WTC Plaza 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally, each floor had fire warden teams (FWT) consisting of fire wardens, deputy fire wardens, and searchers.
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