(A) Fire hydrants. No person shall erect, construct, provide, put in place and maintain a driveway for access from any street or public highway in the town to any lot or parcel of land in the town, to be used for any purpose, the nearest edge of which is within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, without first providing and putting in place and maintaining at least three six inch round or square posts, of either wood, steel or other substantial material. Such protective posts shall be buried at least three feet in the ground, have a height from the ground level at least equal to that of the fire hydrant and be placed equidistant from each other in a circle around such hydrant with a radius of six feet. The protective posts shall be installed under the supervision of the code official, and approval of the manner of construction and the materials used in providing the protection posts shall constitute compliance with this section.
(B) Access.
(1) Fire hydrants.
(a) Unobstructed access to fire hydrants shall be maintained at all times.
(b) A three-foot area free of vegetation and other obstructions shall be maintained around the circumference of fire hydrants at all times.
(2) Buildings and structures.
(a) To allow for safe and timely response of emergency apparatus, all roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet, exclusive of shoulders and an unobstructed vertical clearance of not less than 13 feet 6 inches.
(b) Consistent with the standards of Chapter 72, motor vehicles may not stop, stand or park on any roads in a manner that obstructs safe and timely response of emergency apparatus.
(c) All principal structures shall have reflective street numbers clearly visible from the roadway.
(C) Hazards.
(1) The storage, whether temporary or permanent, of hazardous materials, as hereinafter defined, is prohibited beneath and underneath wood frame multifamily structures having more than one habitable level, whether or not such hazardous materials are stored in a flameproof container, can or canister, vehicle or any type of boat.
(2) The storage of common hazardous materials including items such as gasoline, diesel fuel and other flammable petroleum products; explosive gases including propane; natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas; and all explosives and blasting agents is also prohibited inside any vehicle or container which may be located beneath a wood frame multifamily structure having more than one habitable level.
(D) Smoke detectors. Pursuant to statutory requirements, all rental residential dwelling units, including hotel and motel units, shall have an operational automatic smoke detector in each dwelling unit. A town code official shall approve the type and location of all automatic smoke detectors.
(E) Fire sprinklers.
(1) An automatic fire sprinkler system meeting the requirements of NFPA Standard #13 or #13R shall be required to be installed in the following multifamily residential structures:
(a) In any new construction of a multifamily residential structure.
(b) In any multifamily residential structure undergoing additions or renovations with costs exceeding 50% of the assessed county tax value of the existing structure.
(c) In any multifamily structure damaged or destroyed where the repair costs exceed 50% of the assessed county tax value of the existing structure.
(2) Following occupancy of any multifamily residential structure subject to this section, no person shall shut off or disable any automatic fire sprinkler system and no owner or resident of such building shall fail to prevent the shutting off or disabling of such a system. A sprinkler system may be shut off in order to perform maintenance work on the system during the time that qualified maintenance personnel are on the premises performing necessary maintenance work. Such maintenance work shall only be conducted after notice to and approval by the code official.
(3) In the event an automatic sprinkler system remains off or disabled, the following shall occur:
(a) The code official shall be notified.
(b) A fire watch shall be initiated and a personnel log maintained for the duration of the fire watch.
(F) Knox boxes. Installation of a Knox box shall be required on all newly constructed commercial buildings and commercial buildings with renovation costs exceeding 50% of the assessed county tax value of the existing structure. A town code official shall approve the type and location of all Knox boxes.
(Ord. 20-04, passed 7-1-2020) Penalty, see § 96.99