September 11, 2001, showed first responders how important communication is in high-rise buildings to protect firefighters.
Wednesday, KING 5 News learned that dozens of Seattle buildings likely won't make a October 28 deadline to better equip first responders who need to communicate during emergencies.
"What we're finding is that there are significant costs and/or technical or feasibility challenges in doing those installations," Seattle Fire Asst. Chief John H. Nelsen said. "These are old pre-1980s buildings."
Nelsen told the Seattle City Council Public Safety, Civil Rights and Technology Committee, that about 100 buildings likely won't be equipped by October 28, 2015. The code required existing high-rise buildings without either a wired communication system or approved radio coverage firefighters could use to be equipped by October 28, 2015.
The Seattle Fire Code Advisory Board recommended extending the compliance timeline by two years, until October 28, 2017.
"Often times they're encountering asbestos-containing material which often complicates the installation," Nelsen explained.
But the committee members did not green light the change. Committee chair Bruce Harrell said he wanted to see more proof, in the form of a document from the code advisory board or Mayor Ed Murray, about why extending the deadline two years makes sense.
"I don't know why two years. Why not 3 years? Why not 2 months," he asked. "My concern is, quite frankly, by cutting them that much slack - if something tragic should happen within that two year window - the liability then looks at us because we should've been more diligent in doing what we're supposed to do or require those building owners to work a little more zealously than apparently they are."