Although 15 fires have erupted in high-rise apartments for the elderly in the past three years in Denver, required fire drills for residents are more rare than citations issued to building managers for failing to conduct them.
A review of fire-drill policies in the buildings where more than 1,700 disabled and elderly people live shows that fire drills are never conducted, although the city’s fire officials believe they should be.
There is no indication that the failure to conduct drills has ever directly led to tragedy. But during a fire last month at the Francis Heights Apartments, 2626 Osceola St., a 79-year-old woman died, and firefighters encountered chaos as they tried to respond to her apartment.
During the May 31 emergency, residents opened their doors and let smoke stream into their apartments. They wandered into hallways, forcing firefighters to surrender their own oxygen masks and diverting them from fighting the fire, Denver fire spokesman Phil Champagne said. Management at Francis Heights was cited for failing to conduct quarterly fire drills.
But managers at other privately owned high-rises for the elderly said they also don’t perform fire drills because they didn’t know they were required.
Buildings owned by the Denver Housing Authority don’t conduct drills because they are exempt from the law requiring them. Managers in those buildings said they think the fire-suppression equipment — including sprinkler systems in every apartment and hallway — is sufficient to keep residents safe and that the drills could cause more injuries than they prevent.
Drills critical
But Joyce Castro, a fire-prevention expert from San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District in California, said fire drills are critical for safety in large buildings filled with elderly residents who panic and become confused without them.
Some residents say they wish they drilled regularly, just for the peace of mind of knowing what to do in an emergency.
Joanne Sorenson, 81, said she was previously at a nursing home where she was coupled with a neighbor who needed a hand to get out. The home had regular fire drills.
“It was comforting to know people weren’t going to fall all over each other to get out,” Sorenson said.
But at Higgins Plaza, 1380 Detroit St., where she now lives, no fire drills are performed, she said. She has severe scoliosis and isn’t sure how she would exit the building if there were a fire.
“I could (intentionally) fall down the steps if I had to,” Sorenson said.
Residents at Denver Housing elderly towers are given fire-evacuation instructions when they move into the apartments, said Sonjia Nash, property manager of Thomas Bean Towers, 2350 Cleveland Place. They are given additional fire-safety instructions at regular building meetings for residents.
But Thomas Bean resident Joseph Martin, 54, who walks with a cane because of a broken foot, said he doesn’t recall any fire-safety instructions when he moved in on the sixth floor of the building eight months ago. He isn’t concerned about fire safety in the building, which has manual two-way intercoms in hallways.
He and 83-year-old Earlia “Mae” Jimerson, who has a bone spur in her knee and also walks with a cane, said that if a fire breaks out, they can’t use the elevator and must descend six flights of stairs on their own.
They are mistaken, though. Although residents can’t access the elevators themselves during an emergency, firefighters can use them to evacuate disabled residents like Martin and Jimerson.
Masoud Sabounchi, life-safety consultant to the Denver Housing Authority, said each of the agency’s buildings has specially constructed elevators that can be operated with back-up generators during a fire.
In a typical high-rise filled with the elderly or disabled, a list in a fire-control room identifies which residents are blind, are in wheelchairs or have other disabilities.
Usually when a fire breaks out, residents in the floors above and below the level where the fire started receive intercom messages instructing them to remain in their rooms, Sabounchi said.
That is what happened at Francis Heights when fire broke out on the 10th floor where 79-year-old Mary Ann Vezina died, but Champagne said the elderly residents disregarded the instructions. Four residents were treated for smoke inhalation.
Code rarely enforced
Mark Walta, an attorney for Francis Heights, said the fire-drill provision of the Denver code is rarely enforced.
“Most people would understand it’s not easy to set up evacuation drills,” Walta said.
Matt Scott, regional manager for seven large elderly complexes in Colorado, including Halcyon House, which has 197 high-rise apartments at 1955 Arapahoe St., said he wasn’t aware of any city requirement to hold fire drills.
“That’s new to me if they require it,” he said. “We just make sure all our systems are working.”
In years past when Halcyon officials tried to do fire drills, it was difficult to get residents to cooperate, Scott said.
Two residents at Halcyon were injured when fire broke out on the fifth floor on Sept. 18, 2008.
Scott said fire-evacuation plans are among the papers residents get when they lease an apartment.
The building fire-suppression system ensures fires are rapidly extinguished, and concrete construction prevents fires from moving from apartment to apartment, he said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
