Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post
By William Kelly
Published September 13, 2019
Some condominium
buildings shut down their power as Hurricane
Dorian approached the town, forcing
residents to either evacuate or endure
miserable conditions.
One elderly resident
was so desperate, he pulled the fire alarm in his building,
even though there was no fire, so Palm Beach Fire-Rescue
would come to his aid, Fire Chief Darrel Donatto said. The
man couldn’t get down the stairs to exit the building
without help.
“Imagine you elected to stay in your building,” Donatto told
a Town Council committee Monday. “You find yourself
shuttered in, with no air conditioning and no elevator.
Conditions deteriorate pretty quickly inside those
locations.”
It was one of two calls fire-rescue received from residents
asking for help because the condominium association in their
building had shut off the power.
As Hurricane Dorian threatened the area, Palm Beach County
issued a mandatory evacuation order for the barrier islands,
including Palm Beach, at 1 p.m. Sept. 1. It was lifted at 4
p.m. the following day.
Once an evacuation order has been issued, a state law allows
condominium associations to shut off power, elevators, water
and sewer. The association can’t force residents to leave
their own homes but they can make conditions difficult for
them if they stay. Residents remaining for the storm do so
at their own risk. |
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After a mandatory evacuation was ordered by Palm
Beach County as hurricane Dorian approached, some condominiums shut
off their power.
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“It absolves the condominium association of [responsibility for] anything
that should occur if they stay,” Donatto said of the law.
He said fire-rescue is concerned that some buildings may have turned off
their power generators as well. He said fire-rescue told the condo
associations that they cannot disable essential life-safety systems.
“We are concerned about the generator part of it because it affects lighting
the stairs and hallways to get you out of your building,” he said. “We are
telling them, ‘you can’t shut off your emergency generator. It’s a critical
component of your life-safety system.’”
The subject is “generating a lot of public dialogue,” he said. The town has
asked Town Attorney John Randolph to look into it.
Councilwoman Julie Araskog, one of two council members who sit on the Public
Safety Committee, suggested soliciting a legal opinion from the Florida
attorney general’s office. But Donatto said it needs to go through Randolph
first. “We are proceeding in that direction,” he said.
Councilwoman Margaret Zeidman, who chairs the committee, discouraged any
further comment until the council hears from Randolph.
“It’s already in the hands of our attorney,” she said. “Instead of
speculating how this is going to work out, we should wait for Mr. Randolph,
instead of having too much public discussion about it." |