As communities grapple with housing shortages, some lawmakers have proposed a controversial solution: allowing multistory apartment buildings to be built with only one stairwell — the sole exit route during emergencies. Fire fighters across the United States say the design raises serious safety concerns for both residents and first responders.
The IAFF and other national fire service organizations have issued a joint statement opposing the proposals.
That message is beginning to resonate in some states, notably Connecticut and California, where fire fighters have been educating lawmakers about the safety risks associated with single-exit buildings.
The IAFF has been working with affiliates to push back against proposals that would weaken long-standing building safety standards. Union leaders say increasing housing supply should not come at the expense of life safety protections.
In Connecticut, legislation that bans multilevel buildings with only a single means of egress recently passed both chambers of the General Assembly.
“We are glad that our friends in the state legislature are listening to our concerns and preventing the construction of multilevel buildings with a single stairwell,” said Peter Brown, president of the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association (UPFFA) of Connecticut. “Allowing fire fighters and residents to go in opposite directions on the same set of stairs creates bottlenecking and other potential disasters. Having a second set of stairs is a critical safety feature during a fire.”
Two stairwells allow residents to evacuate while crews advance hose lines and search upper floors. With only one stairwell, those movements can collide, creating dangerous congestion during an emergency.
Two years ago, legislators in Connecticut – which faces an estimated housing shortage of 120,000 units –changed building codes to allow buildings up to four stories to have a single exit. The change was included in the state’s 2024 bond package.
After Connecticut fire fighters shared information from the IAFF and other sources about the dangers of removing secondary stairwells in multilevel dwellings, legislators added a provision repealing that part of the bond package. Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to sign the bill in the coming days.
California’s housing crisis is even greater. In a 2024 report, Up for Growth, an organization focused on affordable housing advocacy, estimated the state was short 840,000 units.
The state legislature responded in 2023 by directing the Office of the State Fire Marshal to study safety standards for single-exit/single-stairway apartment buildings.
Released March 2, the report states that while modern technologies like sprinkler systems reduce safety risks, they “do not fully substitute for the redundancy of two independent stairways,” which are “important for maintaining safety in the face of unforeseen failures.”
The report also recommends that lawmakers not allow single-egress stairwells in buildings taller than four stories.
The California Professional Firefighters (CPF) agree with the concerns raised in the fire marshal’s report and have been strongly opposed to efforts by the Los Angeles City Council and state lawmakers to change building codes to allow single exits.
“The California Professional Firefighters is deeply concerned with any proposal to allow single stair exit in buildings above three stories due to serious safety concerns,” CPF President Brian Rice said. “The space saved in a building by reducing the number of stairways would not meaningfully address the housing shortage and is not enough to justify these lowered health and life safety standards.”
