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Emergencies

Fire

IF YOU DISCOVER A FIRE

  • Activate the fire alarm pull box.
  • Call the Fire Department. Dial 911.
  • Notify Property Management of the fire location. Dial (609) 631-8915.
  • Notify your Fire Warden. It is your responsibility to know who your Fire Warden is and where his or her office located.

WHAT TO DO WHEN AN ALARM SOUNDS

  • Stay Calm.
  • Follow the instructions given by the Fire Department and Property Management.
  • Close doors behind you but do not lock them. Feel doors before opening and do not open any that feel hot. Do not return to retrieve your papers or personal articles.
  • When instructed, evacuate as directed via the building stairwells and emergency exits. All disabled occupants shall follow the building-exiting plan. It is the responsibility of your Fire Warden to report the presence and number of disabled persons to the Fire Department and/or Property Management.
  • Do not use the elevators. If you are in the elevator when an alarm sounds, do NOT push the emergency stop button. The elevator will automatically return to its base level and open.
  • If smoke is present, stay low. The best air is near the floor.
  • If you are outside the building during a fire, stay far enough away to avoid possible falling glass.

FIRE DRILLS

Clients are required to participate in a fire drill at a minimum of once per year. Drills will be held more frequently if requested. The purpose of these drills is to familiarize all tenants with the fire alarm signals and to undertake an actual evacuation thus familiarizing the occupants with the building’s stairwells and emergency exit routes.

Drill Preparations:

  • Property Management will notify Clients in writing and post signs in the main lobby notifying the tenants of the drill time and location.
  • The tenant’s Fire Warden is responsible for circulating a memo throughout the company/floor. This memo shall include the floor evacuation instructions and this drill’s predetermined point of evacuation, drill date and times.
  • A skeleton crew may remain in the tenant’s office to conduct business and assume security during the drill. However, those who remained in the office during the first drill must participate in the subsequent drills.

Actual Drill Procedures:

  • Drills are normally held at 10:00 am, assuming that most tenants have arrived for work and are aware that the alarms are only a drill.
  • (there is no PA system in the building) At 10:00 am Property Management will activate a manual fire alarm pull station. You will hear the activation of the audible horn system. Alarm lamps/strobes will flash on the floor of incidence and the floor above.
  • The floor Fire Warden should be putting the floor evacuation plan into action. Property Management will only supervise this drill. In an actual fire, Property Management would be attempting to control the fire and coordinating the operation of the life safety systems. The tenant should have an evacuation plan that will be totally independent of building leadership during an emergency.
  • Property Management will then sound and evacuation signal to the floor conducting the drill. Occupants should leave the floor via the nearest stairwell (or emergency exit route - for the 1st floor tenants).
  • After the drill is concluded Property Management team will meet with the tenant Fire Wardens as needed to discuss whether all systems and plans functioned properly and determine the overall effectiveness of the drill.

FIRE PREVENTION

  • Report all fire hazards, such as blocked stairwells, inoperative exit signs, storage of flammable materials to your Fire Warden and Property Management. All corridors and passageways should be kept free of storage boxes, etc.
  • The Fire Warden should be responsible for seeing that all appliances such as hot plates are shut off at the end of each business day.
  • Appliances must be approved for use at American Metro Center.
  • Space heaters can overload electrical circuits and pose a definite fire threat. Use of space heaters of any type is prohibited at American Metro Center.
  • Report appliances that are not in good repair. Short circuits or sparks from a frayed cord could start a fire.
  • Smoking is prohibited at American Metro Center, except in designated areas outside. Dispose of cigarette and all other smoking materials in specially provided metal receptacles.
  • Be familiar with the location of your floor’s manual alarm pull stations, fire extinguishers and emergency exits.
  • Participate in your floor’s fire drills to familiarize yourself with the building’s fire alarms signals, stairwell exits and your floor’s evacuation plan.
  • Verify that you can hear the building alarm system from your office and all points on your floor. Property Management will conduct audio tests on each floor upon request.
  • Know how to use a simple fire extinguisher and how to report a fire.

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