[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City
of Meriden 10-7-1963 as Ch. 9 of the 1963 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Alarms — See Ch. 60.
Building construction — See Ch. 77.
Citation process — See Ch. 86.
Housing standards — See Ch. 125.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 159.
STATUTORY REFERENCES
Fire prevention generally — See
C.G.S. § 29-291 et seq.
The officer of the Fire Department in command
at any fire in the City shall have the power and authority necessary
to preserve order and enforce his command at the scene of such fire
and may use all necessary force and may require and have the aid and
assistance of any person for such purposes.
[Amended 9-15-1980]
The officer of the Fire Department in command
at any fire in the City, when he deems it necessary, may, with the
consent of the City Manager, order any building or structure to be
destroyed and torn down to prevent the spreading of such fire.
[Amended 9-15-1980]
The City Manager or Chief of the Fire Department
or the officer in charge at any fire may establish fire lines during
any fire when in his judgment any such action shall be deemed necessary
or advisable and may prohibit any person from going or remaining within
such fire lines, unless authorized by the City Manager or officer
of the Fire Department in command at such fire or an officer of the
Police Department. Upon the establishment of such fire lines, all
unauthorized persons shall remain outside such lines.
It shall be unlawful for any person to remove
or assist in removing any property or obstruction placed by the Fire
Department, in the course of its duties, in, upon or across any street
or portion thereof or upon any premises under the control of such
Department during a fire.
[Amended 9-15-1980]
No vehicle shall, except by direction of the
City Manager or officer of the Fire Department in command at the scene,
approach or remain standing or parked within one block of a fire or
other location to which any fire apparatus has been called by an alarm
of fire in the City.
No unauthorized person shall trespass upon the
property of the Fire Department or carry away, meddle with, use or
injure any of the apparatus of such Department.
No person shall willfully destroy, deface or
injure in any manner the fire alarm telegraph or any part thereof
in the City or any of the appurtenances of the same or willfully interfere
with or do anything to such telegraph to prevent or delay the proper
or timely use thereof.
No person shall post or in any manner affix
any placards, bills or notices, either written or printed, upon any
of the fire alarm telegraph poles or boxes in the City.
It shall be unlawful for any person to give
a false alarm of fire or knowingly to proclaim that any fire in the
City is extinguished when it is not.
[Added 7-2-2007[1]]
All new or renovated nonresidential occupancies
shall be required to have a Knox-Box-type key box installed on the
building before a certificate of occupancy is issued. The Knox-Box
shall be installed in a location approved by the Fire Marshal.
[1]
Editor's Note: This resolution also provided
for the repeal of former § 107-10, Securing and marking
of trapdoors and other dangerous openings.
[Amended 7-18-1994[1]]
No person shall store or transport flammable
liquids in quantities or with a flash point which will subject such
storage or transportation to regulation by the Department of State
Police, without a permit from the Fire Marshal so to do. No such permit
shall be issued except in conformity with the General Statutes and
rules and regulations promulgated thereunder relating to the storage
or transportation of such flammable liquids. It shall be unlawful
for any person to operate under a permit issued under the provisions
of this section in violation of the terms and conditions of such permit.
[1]
Editor's Note: This resolution repealed provisions
pertaining to a fee for the storage or transportation of flammable
liquids. Said resolution also set out new and similar fees which are
on file with the City.
No person shall store, transport or use any
explosives which are of such content or which are stored, transported
or used in such quantity or manner as will subject such storage, transportation
or use to regulation by the Department of State Police, without a
permit from the Fire Marshal so to do. No such permit shall be issued
except in conformity with the General Statutes and rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder relating to the storage, transportation or
use of such explosives. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate
under a permit issued under the provisions of this section in violation
of the terms and conditions of such permit.
If any person is aggrieved by the refusal or
neglect of the Fire Marshal to issue any license or permit which he
is authorized to issue, such person may, except as otherwise provided
by the General Statutes or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder,
appeal from such action to the Council at its next meeting, provided
that such person shall leave with the Town and City Clerk written
notice of such intended appeal prior to such meeting and not later
than one week from the time he has been notified of the action of
the Fire Marshal. Such action of the Fire Marshal shall only become
invalid and inoperative if disapproved by the Council.
All annual permits issued by the Fire Marshal
under the authority of this chapter shall expire on the 31st day of
January of each year.
The Fire Marshal shall keep a record book in
which he shall enter a record of all licenses, permits or orders issued
by him, all complaints made to him and all inspections and examinations
made by him. He shall make a report of his actions to the Council
once each month.
Where any person fails to comply with any order
to abate a fire hazard issued by the Fire Marshal pursuant to the
provisions of §§ 29-306 to 29-310 of the General Statutes,
the Fire Marshal may cause such hazard to be abated, and the expense
thereof shall be chargeable to the person responsible for the creation
or maintenance of such fire hazard and shall be collectible by the
City in the same manner that debts due the City are collected.
A.
No person
shall kindle or maintain any bonfire or authorize any such fire to
be kindled or maintained in the City unless a written permit so to
do has been secured from the Fire Marshal. No such fire shall be kindled
or maintained except in accordance with the terms and conditions of
such permit. No person shall kindle or maintain any fire out of doors
in the City, except in a proper receptacle, unless a person over the
age of 14 years is present and in charge of such fire as long as it
remains burning.
B.
The term
and conditions of such permit shall be set by the Fire Marshal. Only
nonprocessed wood shall be burned. Said permit may be revoked by the
Fire Marshal or his representative at any time due to unsafe operation,
burning of prohibited material or creating a smoke nuisance. All such
determinations shall be in the sole discretion of the Fire Marshal
or his representative. Such permits shall be for residential home
use only. Nothing herein shall be construed to affect any state regulation.
[Added 5-17-2010]
No person shall deposit ashes, smoldering coals
or embers, greasy or oily substances or other matters liable to create
spontaneous ignition, within 10 feet of any wooden or plastered wall,
partition, fence, floor, sidewalk, lumber, hay, shavings, rubbish
or other combustible materials, except in metallic or other noncombustible
receptacles. Such receptacles, unless resting on a noncombustible
floor or on the ground outside the building, shall be placed on noncombustible
stands and in every case shall be kept at least two feet away from
any combustible wall or partition.
No person shall permit to remain upon any roof
or in any courtyard, vacant lot or open space any accumulation of
wastepaper, hay, grass, straw, weeds, litter or combustible or flammable
waste or rubbish of any kind. All weeds, grass, vines or other growth,
when endangering property or liable to be fired, shall be cut down
and removed by the owner or occupant of the property it is on.
No person making, using, storing or having charge
or control of any shavings, excelsior, rubbish, sacks, bags, litter,
hay, straw or combustible trash, waste or fragments shall fail, neglect
or refuse at the close of each day to cause all such material which
is not compactly baled and stacked in an orderly manner to be removed
from the building or stored in suitable vaults or in metal or metal-lined
covered receptacles or bins. The Fire Marshal may require suitable
baling presses to be installed in stores, apartment houses, factories
and similar places where accumulations of paper and waste materials
are not removed at least every second day and may require the removal
of such accumulations daily if conditions warrant such action in his
opinion.
The storage of empty packing cases, boxes, barrels
or other similar combustible containers is forbidden unless approved
by the Fire Marshal. Such storage shall be orderly and not so located
as to endanger exits from the building in which stored. Storage in
the open of packing cases, boxes, barrels or other similar combustible
containers shall not be more than 20 feet in height and shall be so
located, with respect to surrounding buildings, as not to constitute
a hazard. All such storage shall be in a compact and orderly manner.
No person shall take an open light or flame
into any building, barn, boat or other place where highly flammable,
combustible or explosive material is kept, unless such light or flame
is well secured in an explosionproof-type lamp or similar approved
device.
No heating apparatus with an open flame, and
no artificial lighting system other than incandescent electric lights,
shall be used in any warehouse for the storage of rags, excelsior,
hair or other flammable or combustible material or fluids, nor in
any shop or factory used for the manufacture, repair or renovating
of mattresses or bedding, nor in any establishment for the upholstery
of furniture.
A.
The Fire Marshal may inspect all warehouses, stores,
industrial establishments and any building, structure or open space
in which combustible materials are handled, stored, manufactured or
sold, and, where conditions found justify the prohibition of smoking,
he shall order the owner or occupant, in writing, to post suitable
signs or placards in each room, building, structure or place in which
such prohibition shall be enforced. All such signs or installations
shall read "By Order of the Fire Marshal."
B.
The Fire Marshal may designate special rooms or portions
of structures in which smoking, under such restrictions as he may
designate, may be permitted.
C.
The term "smoking" as used in this section shall include
the carrying of a lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette or tobacco in any
other form.
D.
It shall be unlawful for any person to remove any
sign or placard posted under the provisions of this section or to
smoke in any properly placarded place.
[Added 7-1-1974; amended 9-15-1980]
A.
Definitions. A "fire zone" (fire lane) is a designated
unobstructed passageway sufficient to permit free passage of fire
and other emergency equipment from a public highway to all areas or
portions of any private or public property as hereinafter set forth.
B.
Determination of need for fire zone (fire lane). Whenever
the Fire Marshal shall determine that the reasonable safety of persons
occupying or using any premises, public or private, other than a private
residential dwelling consisting of four or fewer separate apartment
units, requires the establishment of a fire zone (fire lane) for the
orderly access to said premises of fire and other emergency equipment,
he shall recommend to the City Council that said Council establish
such fire zone (fire lane). Prior to making such recommendation, the
said Fire Marshal or Deputy Fire Marshal shall discuss the area of
the proposed fire zone (fire lane) with the owner or owners or agents
of said premises. No fire zone shall be recommended or established
by the said City Council for any building which immediately abuts
a public highway unless the owner of said building consents in writing
to the establishment of said zone. For the purposes of this section,
a building will be considered to immediately abut a public highway
if it is no more than 15 feet from the City street line.
C.
Issuance of order establishing fire zone (fire lane);
filing copies of order. Whenever the City Council establishes a fire
zone (fire lane) as recommended by the Fire Marshal, said Council
shall cause a copy of said order to be delivered to the owner or owners
or agents thereof of any private land on which such fire zone (fire
lane) is established. The Council shall also file one copy of its
order with the Clerk of the Council, one copy with the City Clerk
and one copy with the Traffic Division of the City of Meriden.
D.
Appeal by aggrieved person. Any person aggrieved by
said order may appeal therefrom to the Court of Common Pleas for the
County of New Haven.
E.
Erecting signs; collection of cost when a private
property. Upon establishment of a fire zone (fire lane) the Traffic
Division shall cause to be erected or installed adequate signs and/or
markings or other devices to delineate said fire zone (fire lane).
Such signs and/or markings or other devices installed on privately
owned premises, as ordered by the City Council, shall be at the cost
of the owner. All such signs or markings shall read "Fire Zone--No
Parking." Should the owner or owners, or agents thereof, of any private
land fail to comply with the order of the City Council, the Fire Marshal
or the Deputy Fire Marshal may have the Traffic Division erect said
signs and establish said markings, and the cost of said signs and
the installation thereof shall be billed to the owner or owners, or
agents thereof, and collected in the same manner as municipal taxes,
provided that the Traffic Division causes a notice of lien to be filed
on the land records within 60 days after the erection or installation
of said signs or markings.
F.
Motor vehicles not to be parked in fire zones (fire
lanes). No person shall park or permit to stand a motor vehicle in
a fire zone which has been established in accordance with this section,
except when actually picking up or discharging passengers. Any person
violating this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not
more than $100. The registered owner of a motor vehicle shall be presumed
to be the operator of such vehicle.
G.
Towing of vehicles parked within fire zone (fire lane).
Any motor vehicle found standing in a fire zone which has been established
in accordance with this section may be towed, upon the direction of
a police officer, to any public or private parking facility, and all
expense of such towing and any subsequent storage shall be borne by
the registered owner of such vehicle.
H.
Citation for violation; early payment of fine. Whenever a vehicle is found standing in violation of Subsection F, a police officer shall serve upon the owner or operator of such vehicle or place upon such vehicle a notice directing the owner or operator thereof to appear at the Police Department prior to a time specified in said notice. If any person receiving said notice shall appear as directed and shall pay an amount as specified in said notice, not exceeding $5; such payment shall bar a prosecution for violation of Subsection F.
[Added 6-15-1987]
In new construction, required smoke detectors
on different levels of a dwelling unit shall be electrically interconnected
and arranged so that a detector sensing smoke on any level will sound
an alarm on all levels.
[Added 9-3-1996]
The provisions of this chapter may be enforced
by citation, in addition to other remedies. The following persons
have authority to issue citations for violations pursuant to this
chapter: City of Meriden Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief, Assistant
Fire Chief, Fire Marshal and Deputy Fire Marshal.
