Saturday, May 11, 2013

Power outage exposes danger and criminal negligence

On Saturday May 11th 2013 around 11h15 the power went out in the area. Normally the emergency backup power system should have kicked-in and lit up the hall and stairwells, but not here! That's right, the entire building went dark. No emergency lighting in the halls, no exit signs lit up, and absolutely NO lighting in the emergency stair wells! Even the water pressure went down.

Back in April 2011 a fire in a building across the street caused the power to go out. This led to the authorities discovering that the Marina Center's emergency backup system did not work. Two years later, the problem continues.

If there would have been a fire in the building during the outage (which lasted for almost an hour), nobody would have known because no alarm system would have worked. Furthermore, had an evacuation been necessary, it would have been impossible since the building was totally dark! And if the fire department would have needed to use the water, it would not have worked because the pressure went down!

It seems clear that NOTHING has been done to rectify the problem (in two years), thus putting the lives of the tenants in danger! Incompetence or criminal negligence? You decide. Would you want to live here?