The building where I live (i.e. 1 River Court) recently had a major power outage due to a fire in a nearby transformer. At the time there was smoke everywhere and lots of noise. But nobody was hurt, and everything is now fine.

What troubled me about the incident is that there were no lights in the stairways during or after the fire. The only lights still working in the public spaces were the EXIT signs in the hallways. I have a flashlight, so I got down the stairs OK, but on my way down I met quite a few residents who were very slowly groping their way along in the pitch black.

Having no lights in the stairways during an emergency doesn't seem right. I understand that this was a somewhat unusual fire in that it affected the electrical system, but still. There was electricity in my apartment at the time, so there was obviously power to be had – if only the stairway lights had been wired to use it.

Even when there is no power in the building, I'd like to there to be at least some lighting in the stairways. If they can't install a system with a battery backup, then they could at least have a pile of flash lights ready to deploy in an emergency.

Thanks / Graeme

wow, that's a serious issue.. I wonder what the regulations are. Like I've seen many buildings that have the battery operated lights in case of an emergency. Seems to make sense especially in a high rise since everyone needs to get through the stairs to evacuate right.

The Jersey City fire department's headquarters can be reached at:
201-547-4200. I think it's worth a try to find out what the standard is.