The following special standards for the prevention and abatement of fire dangers shall apply to certain classifications of multiple dwellings.
(A) Application.
(1) These special standards shall apply only to Group D and H occupancies as defined in the Uniform Building Code incorporated by reference in Ch. 157 of this code of ordinances. Exception shall be made, for apartment houses occupied and designed to be occupied by not more than two family units living independently of each other.
(2) These special standards shall apply only to such buildings hereafter constructed and not to structures existing at the time of adoption of this chapter. However, when any such existing structure is reconstructed after sustaining damages in excess of 50% of its fair market value, this structure shall be defined as having been a lawful non-conforming use as pertains to this chapter and shall be rebuilt to conform with these special standards.
(B) Alarm system required.
(1) An approved manual electric-supervised remote station fire alarm system and automatic detection system shall be provided in every building so required in division (A) above. This shall not apply if each resident room or living area in one-story buildings has direct access to the outside of the building or unless the complete and entire building is provided with an automatic sprinkler system. In any building with a partial sprinkler system, that portion of the building with the sprinkler system will be in conformance in lieu of an automatic detection system.
(2) The mechanical central air conditioning and ventilation system shall be connected to the alarm and detection system in such a way as to automatically shut down the ventilation system upon activation of the alarm system and detection system.
(3) When an alarm and detection system is installed, plans shall be submitted in duplicate to the Fire Chief for approval before a building permit is issued. Sprinkler systems shall be in accordance with the 1966 or latest revised edition of N.F.P.A. No. 13, Standards for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems. Alarm systems shall be in accordance with the 1967 or latest revised edition of N.F.P.A. No. 72 A, Standards for the Installation, Maintenance and Use of Local Protective Signaling Devices and Systems.
(a) User fees.
1. Once a safety alarm system reports more than two false alarms to the city in a single calendar year and the alarm user has received timely notice of each violation, the alarm user shall be charged a user fee as set forth in the city fee schedule.
2. Any alarm user required by the city to pay a user fee as the result of a false alarm may make a written appeal of the false alarm charge to the Chief of Police within ten days of notice from the city of the false alarm charge. Following review and determination by the Chief of Police, such decision may be appealed to the City Council who will have the authority to make a final determination as to whether the appellant is to be charged with a fee for a false alarm.
3. User fees must be paid to the City Administrator/Clerk/Treasurer within 30 days from the date of notice by the city to the alarm user. Failure to pay the fee within 30 days’ notice will cause the alarm user to be considered delinquent and subject to a penalty of a full 10% of the fee.
4. All delinquent charges for user fees shall be certified by the City Administrator/Clerk/Treasurer to the county’s Assessor who shall prepare an assessment roll each year providing for assessment of the delinquent amounts against the respective properties service, which assessment roll shall be delivered to the City Council for adoption on or before October 10 of each year.
(b) Alarm report. When an alarm user has incurred five false alarms or more within one calendar year, the alarm user shall submit within ten days after being charged with the fifth false alarm, written verification to the Chief of Police that appropriate actions are being taken to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarms.
(c) Confidentiality of information. All information submitted in compliance with this chapter shall be held in confidence and shall be deemed a confidential record exempt from discovery to the extent permitted by law. Subject to requirements of confidentiality, the Chief of Police may develop and maintain statistics for the purpose of on-going alarm systems evaluation.
(C) Magnetic door holders required. Magnetic door holders shall be installed on all fire doors located at area suspension fire walls in every building so required under division (A) above. It is a violation of this section to block any fire door or smoke door in stairwells or corridors, except by the use of such magnetic door holders. The magnetic door holders shall be connected to the alarm and detection system and/or sprinkler system in such a way the doors will automatically close upon activation of the systems.
(D) Standpipes required.
(1) Standpipes shall be required on all new construction and shall be installed in accordance with the 1968 or latest edition of N.F.P.A. No. 14, Standards for the Installation of Standpipes and Hose Systems. All buildings having three or more stories which are required to have standpipes installed shall have them installed in accordance with N.F.P.A. No. 14, Class III, for use by fire departments and those trained in handling heavy hose streams.
(2) The minimum supply line from the public water main system to any standpipe system shall be at least four inches in diameter and at least one Fire Department connection shall be provided for each standpipe system. This connection shall be installed in an accessible location on the outside of the building and it shall have two and one-half inch National Standard threads. All plans shall be submitted to the Fire Chief for approval prior to installation.
(E) Elevators. In any building having over three stories where all of the elevators have automatic operation, at least one elevator, necessary to provide access to all landings, shall be arranged for use by firefighters as follows.
(1) A key-operated switch with light jewel shall be provided on the wall surface adjacent to the elevator at street level and may be provided at other landings subject to the discretion of the Fire Chief. The key-operated switch shall remove the elevator from normal service and place it at the sole service of the firefighters.
(2) The key-operated switch shall cancel all existing elevator car calls, prevent the opening of the elevator doors at other landings and prevent registration of other elevator car calls. It shall also cause the elevator to travel to the key-operated landing without responding to other landing calls.
(3) When the car arrives at the firefighter’s landing, the doors shall remain open until closed by operation from within the car. The jewel light shall be illuminated when the car is returning in response to the operation of the key-operated switch.
(4) A key-operated switch shall be provided within the car which can be operated only by the same key which operates the landing switch. The key-operated switch shall permit operation of the elevator to by-pass all landing calls except those initiated from within the car.
(1994 Code, § 6-2.5)