[Adopted 2-22-1971 by L.L. No. 1-1971
as Ch. 62, Art. I, of the 1971 Code]
A.
A Bureau of Fire Prevention in the Fire Department of
the Incorporated Village of Rockville Centre is hereby established, which
shall be operated under the supervision of the Chief Engineer of the Rockville
Centre Fire Department.
B.
The Chief Engineer of the Fire Department shall designate
members of the Fire Department as inspectors of the Fire Prevention Bureau
as shall from time to time be necessary.
It shall be the duty of the inspectors of the Fire Prevention Bureau
to enforce all laws and ordinances of the state, county, town and Village
covering the following:
The Fire Prevention Bureau shall, under the direction of the officer
in charge, investigate the cause, origin and circumstances of every fire occurring
in the Village of Rockville Centre and its fire protection districts, and
so far as possible shall determine whether the fire is the result of carelessness
or design. If the fire is of suspicious or undetermined origin, the officer
in charge of the fire shall take charge immediately of the physical evidence
and shall notify the proper authorities.
A.
The Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, members or
inspectors of the Fire Prevention Bureau may, at all reasonable hours, enter
any building or premises within their jurisdiction for the purpose of making
an inspection or investigation he or they may deem necessary to be made.
B.
The Chief Engineer and inspectors of the Fire Prevention
Bureau shall inspect as often as may be deemed necessary, or upon complaint,
all buildings, structures and premises except the interior of one-family dwellings,
for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any conditions
liable to cause fire or any violations of the provisions or intent of any
law or ordinance affecting the fire hazard.
C.
It shall be the duty of the Chief Engineer of the Fire
Department to require the teachers, principals or other persons in charge
of every public, private, parochial school and educational institutions to
conduct at least 12 fire drills in each school year and to keep all doors
and exits unlocked during school hours and during all times said building
is being used by students, teachers or the public.
D.
If the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department or any inspector
of the Fire Prevention Bureau shall find in any building, structure, premises
or any other place, combustible or explosive matter or dangerous accumulations
of rubbish or unnecessary accumulations of rubbish, wastepaper, boxes, shavings,
dead trees, branches or any other highly inflammable materials, and which
is so situated as to endanger property or lives, or shall find obstructions
to or on fire escapes, on or under stairs, steps, passageways, hallways, doors
or windows, liable to interfere with the operations of the Fire Department
or egress of the occupants in case of fire, such dangerous conditions or materials
shall be ordered removed and remedied forthwith.
E.
Whenever the Chief Engineer or inspectors of the Fire
Prevention Bureau shall find any building or other structure which, for want
of automatic or other fire alarm apparatus or fire extinguishing equipment,
or by reason of age or dilapidated condition, or from any other cause, is
especially liable to fire, and which is so situated as to endanger other property
or the occupants thereof, and whenever such officer or officers shall find
in any building combustible or flammable materials or conditions dangerous
to the safety of such building or the occupants thereof, he shall order such
dangerous condition or materials to be removed or to be remedied in accordance
with recognized standards and practices for the prevention of fire.
F.
The recognized standards and practices for the prevention
of fire shall be held to mean the standard practices and requirements as set
forth by the Insurance Services Office, National Fire Protection Association
and the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Compliance with these standards
or other approved nationally recognized safety standards shall be deemed to
be prima facie evidence of compliance with this intent.
[Amended 10-21-1974 by L.L.
No. 4-1974]
A.
The service of orders hereunder may be made upon the
owner or occupant of the premises either by delivering a copy thereof to such
owner or occupant personally or by delivering such copy to any person in charge
of the premises. In case no such person is found on the premises, service
may be made by affixing a copy thereof upon a conspicuous part of the premises
and by mailing an additional copy of such order to the owner at his last known
address by registered mail.
B.
Any such order shall forthwith be complied with by the
owner or occupant of such premises or building; provided, however, that such
owner or occupant may, within 24 hours, appeal to the Chief Engineer of the
Fire Department, who shall, within three days, review such order and file
his decision thereon, and unless by his authority the order is revoked or
modified, it shall remain in full force and be complied with within the time
fixed in said order or decision of the Chief Engineer; provided, however,
that any such owner or occupant may, after the revoking or affirming of any
such order by the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, apply for a review
of such order to the courts pursuant to Article 78 of the Civil Practice Act.
As used in this article, the following term shall have the meaning indicated:
Includes person, persons, firms or corporations.
The Chief Engineer of the Fire Department shall have power to modify
any of the provisions of this article upon application in writing by the owner,
lessee or occupant, when there are practical difficulties in the may of carrying
out the strict letter of this article, provided that the same are not inconsistent
with the general intent of this article and public safety and substantial
justice be done. Such modifications shall be in writing by the Chief Engineer.
A.
In every multiple-family dwelling, office building, public
hall, places of public assembly or such other places used by the public for
business, fraternal, educational or social purposes, the owner shall provide
a light or lights which shall be of not less than 15 watts or equivalent photometric
rating for the vestibule and entrance hall and in every public hall, stair,
fire stair and fire tower, on every floor and basement corridor. Such light
or lights shall be located as prescribed by the department charged with the
enforcement of this section. Except as hereinafter otherwise provided with
respect to fire stairs, fire towers and in stairs, public halls and basement
corridors without windows, every such light or lights shall be turned on by
the owner or his agent at sunset every day and shall not be turned off by
the owner or his agent until the following sunrise. Such light or lights shall
be kept burning daily from sunset until sunrise, but if the same become extinguished
and remain extinguished without the knowledge and consent of the owner he
shall not be liable. The burden shall be upon the owner to show that said
light or lights became and remained extinguished without the knowledge and
consent of the owner or his agent. Every light in every fire stair and fire
tower at every floor where there is no window opening to the outer air, and
in every public hall and basement corridor where there is no window opening
to the outer air, shall be kept burning continuously.
B.
The light or lights in stair, fire stair, fire tower,
public hall and basement corridor shall be so located that all portions of
such stair, fire stair, fire tower, public hall or basement corridor shall
be lighted.
C.
This section shall apply to all multiple-family dwellings,
office buildings, public halls, places of public assembly or such other places
used by the public for business, fraternal, educational or social purposes
now used for the above-mentioned purposes, as well as all buildings hereafter
erected for said purposes.
Appropriate signs indicating the location of the nearest fire alarm
box shall be installed at all entrances of all multiple dwellings and places
of public assembly by the owner, tenant or person in charge of said building,
said signs to be approved by the Bureau of Fire Prevention as to size, material,
wording, place and manner of installation. No person or persons, firm, association
or corporation shall refuse to permit the installation of such signs as provided
herein, or shall remove any such sign so installed.
Any boiler room, fire room or cellar which has a depression in the floor,
and any inside or outside grease pit, shall be properly guarded with metal
rails or chains. All outside openings or areaways shall be protected with
a grating at grade level or with a rail. It shall be the duty of the inspectors
to investigate any such condition and to see that the provisions of this section
are complied with. This section shall apply to all buildings, with the exception
of one-family residences.
All trap doors in any factory or storage building shall be closed at
the completion of the business of each day. Every outside window in any such
building which opens directly on any hoistway or other vertical means of communication
between two or more floors in such building shall be plainly marked with the
word "Shaftway" in red letters at least six inches high on a white background,
such warning sign to be so placed as to be easily discernible from the outside
of the building. Every door or window opening on such shaftway from the interior
of the building, unless the construction of the partition surrounding the
shaftway is of such distinctive nature as to make the purpose evident at a
glance, shall be similarly marked with the warning word "Shaftway" so placed
to be easily visible to anyone approaching the shaftway from the interior
of the building. Any open shaftway shall be properly protected by a suitable
guardrail at all times.
Inflammable materials of whatever nature or texture shall not be used
for decoration purposes in show windows, stores nor any place of public assembly
unless such materials are first rendered flameproof in a manner acceptable
to the enforcing officer; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be
held to prohibit the display of salable goods, permitted and offered for sale,
in stores. Electric light bulbs in stores or public halls shall not be decorated
with paper or other combustible materials unless such materials shall first
have been rendered flameproof.
All chimneys, smokestacks or similar devices for conveying smoke or
hot gases to the outer air, and the stoves, furnaces, fireboxes or boilers
to which they are connected, shall be maintained in such a manner as not to
endanger property.
