Emergency procedures are governed by Section 3 of the CityView Resident Handbook.
In the case of fire or other life-threatening health emergency, call 911. If there is a fire in your unit, leave immediately, close the door to your unit and pull one of the fire alarm pull stations if the alarm is not already sounding.
If you smell gas, Call PGW at 215-235-1212.
Please contact the front desk to request emergency maintenance services (this procedure is subject to change by Management). Maintenance requests will be handled after hours if they are “emergencies,” which are defined as situations that present a danger to people and property, and include the following:
- No electricity
- No water
- No hot water
- Sewer back-up
- Electrical shorts
- Flowing water in the home
- Flooding on the property
- Broken pipes
A note about alarms:
Once the Fire Department is contacted, we cannot silence the alarm or intervene until PFD gives the “all clear”.
Each unit has smoke detectors, and if one of those is triggered, this will not send the building into a general alarm. But when smoke gets into the hallway, the sensors in the hallway will sound the general alarm and call for the evacuation of some floors.
For this reason, it is essential that if you burn food, or have smoke in your unit that you open your window to vent the smoke, and do not open your door, unless, of course, there is a fire and a need to evacuate your unit. In which case, you should evacuate, close your door behind you, and sound the alarm with one of the pull stations in the hallway. These are located near the doors to the stair towers.
Unlike smaller buildings, high rise structures have many safety features built into them. We have a standpipe system in each fire tower. If there is a significant fire, the fire department needs to deploy personnel in the building, they can connect hoses to this part of our infrastructure. Additionally, the units are equipped with sprinklers, the walls and doors are fire rated and the floors are thick concrete. These features hinder or suppress the fire. The alarm panel is also a very sophisticated piece of equipment. If there is smoke detected on a floor, that floor, the two floors above and the floor below will all be instructed to evacuate. All other floors will hear a different message with instructions for the occupants of those floors to leave their unit and wait at the nearest stairwell. If you don’t need to evacuate you will be instructed not to enter the fire stairway. This is to assist in an orderly evacuation if it is necessary.
One very important note is that when the alarm goes off, DO NOT call the front desk as they will be coordinating with emergency services and working to ensure your safety and the safety of your neighbors. All alarms need to be treated as emergencies. Please follow the instructions issued via the PA system and allow the staff to do their duty.
The most important takeaway is to treat every alarm activation as a genuine emergency, as it may be indicative of a potential threat to your safety.