Signs of caution

Albany vacant building red warning box Broad Street 2016-05-09

A row of three buildings on Broad Street in the South End are marked with the boxes.

You might notice these red-and-white signs popping up on buildings in in the city of Albany. So... what's that about?

From a city press release Monday:

The 2X2 foot building identification signs, which will consist of an "X" inside a red-colored square, will be placed on [vacant] buildings that have interior hazards, warning first responders during emergencies such as fires that the building is unsafe to enter. But emergency responders will still enter these buildings if people are believed to be inside one of the designated buildings.

Albany firefighters will be inspecting 600-800 buildings around the city over the next six months making assessments about which buildings should get the warning box, according to the city. The review will also serve as a code enforcement check and violators will be cited.

Earlier on AOA: Map: Vacant buildings in Albany (2012)

Comments

Maybe someone can weigh in on what a firefighter knows and doesn't know, but it seems strange to have them as the ones assessing a building for life-safety issues and code violations rather than a building professional (architect, engineer, contractor) that deals with those things much more-so on a daily basis.

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