An emergency lighting system and a method for operating same. The emergency lighting system includes an area control device, a storage device, an external device and a plurality of emergency lighting devices operably connected to the area control device. In addition, each emergency lighting device includes a light, a controller having an electronic processor configured to perform a self-diagnostic test, and an input/output (I/O) device for transmitting data associated with the self-diagnostic test, and wherein each of the plurality of emergency lighting devices is configured to wirelessly communicate with one another. The area control device may wirelessly receive data associated with the self-diagnostic test from at least one of the plurality of emergency lighting devices, and may wirelessly transmit the data associated with the self-diagnostic test of any of the plurality of emergency lighting devices to at least one of the storage device and the external device.