May 19, 2006

Fire safety keeping Statue of Liberty's top closed

Although the House of Representatives yesterday approved $1 million to reopen the Statue of Liberty's crown, the technology does not yet exist to safely allow the public back to the top, according to a spokesman for the National Park Service.

"Regardless of what happens, a fire or post-9/11 action, we still find it does not meet the standards for egress and fire safety," Phil Sheridan, the spokesman for the Northeast region of the NPS told NewYorkology today. "Absent any new breakthrough in technology it's not likely in the near future."

In a 2004 interview, Sheridan's predecessor at NPS called the statue a "firetrap." Asked today about that characterization, Sheridan said: "It hasn't changed."

He said the Park Service was criticized starting in the late-1990s for code violations at the Statue of Liberty. Consultants were brought in to study the matter, although the stairwell remained open to the public up until September 11, 2001.

While the Park Service was able to compartmentalize the statue's base, which houses the museum and original torch, the fragility of the statue and its size prevent the Parks Service from building a new compartmentalized stairwell to the top. When the torch was still open to the public, a walk to the top could take several hours with tourists spending several minutes on each step due to the long line. Only about 1/3 of all visitors bothered going up, according to a 2004 NPS report.

In seeking the $1 million funding on Thursday, Representative Anthony Weiner (D- Brooklyn and Queens) challenged the NPS stance on the safety issue. From the transcript of Weiner's floor speech provided by his office:

Frankly, the reason that the Statue of Liberty is still closed is the lack of imagination and will on the part of the Park Service. Over the course of years, we in this House have said in many different ways either open it or tell us why you cannot. And each time they said things like,
well, we are still thinking about it, we are pondering it, we are trying to figure it out.

The final analysis is quite clear. They do not want to reopen it. They are concerned they cannot possibly make it safe. Some of us have suggested why not have no bags permitted? Why not say only a limited number of people can go in? Why not suggest that you have reservations in advance? Why not come to us and say maybe we need additional security? No. In fact, what they said is you can go to the part that was built here in the United States, but the iconic Statue of Liberty that all of us remember climbing up to when we were children is closed. It is the only national park that is.

The March 30, 2004 report (in pdf format,) issued by the Department of the Interior covered all the safety improvements made at the Statue of Liberty since 2001 and answered the question “why not higher?”

Health and safety concerns:

Safety standards of the International Building Code of the City of New York cannot be met inside the Statue itself. (National Park Service policy is to comply with safety and fire codes whenever possible.)

No code-compliant exits from the Statue.

No ability to provide adequate fire suppression or space compartmentalization.

Time required for visitors to reach exit far exceeds code standards.

Inadequate fire suppression.

Stairs to crown are unenclosed, too narrow, and too steep. (Riser height exceeds maximum allowable under codes; tread depth and stair width exceed minimum allowable.)

Heat can be oppressive in summer months (up to 20 degrees higher than outside temperature).

Prior to September 11th, less than 1/3 of visitors climbed to the crown of the statue. Its interior was not designed to accommodate tourists and does not meet local fire, building, or safety codes. The narrow and winding stairs were designed for access by a light keeper and maintenance crews only. There is little room to evacuate an injured person. The interior of the statue also lacks the compartmentalization necessary for fire safety.

The Statue of Liberty was closed on September 11, 2001. As a result of initial security improvements, the National Park Service was able to reopen Liberty Island to visitors in December 2001. The closure was only the second in Liberty's history. The first was in 1916 when German saboteurs blew up an arms depot near the New Jersey shore, just west of the Statue. The explosion impact damaged Liberty's arm, weakening the structure to the point that all public access to the torch immediately ended.

And while ticket sales so far this year for the Statue of Liberty are exceeding last year's numbers, there have been several blips since September 11, Wright said. Even after the islands reopened, many school districts prohibited their students from going to any national monuments, the public’s confusion lingered into 2005 over whether the Statue of Liberty had actually reopened, and then there was the Republican National Convention held in New York City in August 2004.

"That was such as terrible week," Wright said. "Anything in Lower Manhattan, it was dead."

"It hurt us very badly ... across the board, even Statue of Liberty during our otherwise peak time of the year," Buckley said.

May 19, 2006 12:35 PM in Architecture, History, Museums, Sightsology

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