It’s been almost a year since the Marco Polo fire killed four people and caused more than 100 million dollars in damage. On Thursday, the city took a big step forward in preventing another tragedy.
A new bill that will immediately go into effect requires residential buildings greater than 10 stories to go through a “life safety evaluation,” which will look at the buildings fire alarms, fire doors, and if the building has been retrofitted for sprinklers.
However, buildings that install sprinklers will obtain an automatic pass.
“This life safety evaluation is key because sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. And this will tell the buildings the good efforts that they’re making to keep their building safe, but also it’s gonna tell them where their gaps are so they can make improvements in those areas,” said Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves.
Building owners will have six years after the evaluation to install the necessary safety safety tools.
