(a) All occupancies in buildings which are three or more stories in height or in buildings having five or more dwelling units, or six or more guest rooms, or a combination of dwelling units and guest rooms six or more in number, shall be provided with a smoke detection and alarm system as provided herein.
EXCEPTIONS:
(1) Buildings of Type I (I-A) or Type II (I-B, II-A, II-B) construction.
(2) Buildings having a sprinkler system conforming as a minimum with the requirements of Section 807 of the San Francisco Housing Code.
(3) Existing buildings having smoke detectors in all individual dwelling units which are installed prior to March 1, 1977, in conformity with the requirements for fire-warning systems in effect on that date, and maintained in conformity with applicable provisions of the Fire Code.
(4) Buildings in which all individual dwelling units and guest rooms have access to the exterior at ground level without use of any interior public hallway or any interior public stairway. Access to a fire escape shall not qualify for this exception.
(b) All required smoke detection and alarm systems shall be installed and maintained in conformity with the following requirements:
(1) All smoke detectors shall be located in accordance with an approved plan in all public corridors and public stairways. Such detectors shall be located not more than 30 feet apart and shall be located within 15 feet of a corridor wall or the end of the corridor. There shall be one detector at the top of each public stairway and an additional detector in such stairway at every third floor below the top of such stairway. All required smoke detector and alarm systems shall be approved by the Director and the Fire Department.
All required smoke detector and alarm systems installed prior to January 1, 1989, shall conform to applicable requirements of the National Fire Protection Association Standards 72-A, 1981 Edition and 72-E, 1981 Edition, except that where there is a conflict between the provisions and this Section, the provisions of this Section shall prevail. As an alternate, smoke detector and alarm systems may comply with the 1988 San Francisco Building and Electrical Codes.
(2) All audible devices activated by the operation of any required smoke detector shall be installed in an approved location and shall emit a loud continuous alarm clearly audible in all occupied areas of the building.
All required heat detectors shall be connected to the audible devices of all required smoke detection and alarm systems located and supervised as required under this Code, and such heat detectors shall be operationally interconnected to such systems.
EXCEPTION: Heat detectors are not required in:
(i) Buildings of Type I or Type II construction;
(ii) Buildings having a sprinkler system conforming as a minimum with the requirements of Section 807 of the Housing Code;
(iii) Existing buildings having smoke detectors in all individual dwelling units which were installed prior to March 1, 1977, in conformity with the requirements for smoke detectors in effect on that date, and maintained in conformity with applicable provisions of the Fire Code;
(iv) Buildings in which all individual dwelling units and guest rooms have access to the exterior at ground level without use of any interior public hallway or any interior public stairway access to a fire escape which shall not qualify for this exception;
(v) Buildings having three-quarter-hour opening protectors in each inner court or having a sprinkler head at each window of such inner court.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 104, nothing in this Section is intended to authorize heat detectors as an alternative material or method to any required sprinkler, fire alarm, or other fire safety device.
(3) Where there is no fire alarm system as required under Section 907 of the San Francisco Building Code, a manual fire alarm pull box capable of activating audible devices of required smoke detectors shall be installed in an approved location near the main entrance of the building.
(4) All required smoke detectors and alarm systems shall receive their power supply from the building electrical system. All such systems shall be electrically supervised locally for system malfunction and power supply interruption. "Supervision" shall consist of the following elements, or those "supervision" provisions provided by standard industry supervision panel boxes as approved by the State Fire Marshal:
(i) A green indicator light to indicate that the system is in a functional condition.
(ii) A blinking red indicator light and an audible device to provide a warning when there is a malfunction or power supply interruption. Such audible device shall be provided with a silencing switch which shall automatically reset when function of the system or power supply to the system is reestablished.
(iii) A sign located in the interior of the building near the main entrance. Such sign shall be readily visible. Indicator lights required under this Subparagraph (b)(4) shall be located in the center of such sign, the top of which shall announce, "FIRE ALARM SYSTEM," and the bottom of which shall announce, "OPERATING," and "TROUBLE" below the green and red lights, respectively. All letters forming such announcements shall be at least one-half inch in height.
(5) Similar supervisory indicating devices existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance shall be deemed in compliance with this Section if approved by the Director and the San Francisco Fire Department.
(c) Upon completion of the installation of any system required under this Section, the installer of such system shall provide to the Director, in a form acceptable, a certification that the system is operational and functioning.
(d) All required smoke detection and alarm systems shall be maintained as required by the Fire Code.
(e) Where an approved fire alarm system is required under Section
of the San Francisco Building Code, such fire alarm system shall be operationally interconnected with any required smoke detection and alarm system such that the fire alarm bells shall be activated by either system. All audible devices of any approved fire alarm system shall conform to the requirements of this Section.
(f) Where a sprinkler alarm bell is required under Chapter 9, the sprinkler shall also be interconnected to both the fire alarm system and the smoke detection and alarm system.
(g) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 104, nothing in this Section is intended to authorize smoke detection and alarm systems as an alternative material or method to any required sprinkler, fire alarm or other fire safety device.
(Added by Ord. 399-89, App. 11/6/89; amended by Ord. 161-92, App. 6/4/92; Ord. 350-95, App. 11/3/95; Ord. 320-99, App. 11/22/99; Ord. 256-07, App. 11/6/2007)