In accordance with the Third Class City Code, the City of Coatesville
situate in Chester County, Pennsylvania, hereby adopts the International
Fire Code, 2009 Edition (published by the International Code Council)
as the Fire Prevention Code of the City of Coatesville, save and except
such portions as are hereinafter deleted, modified or amended, of
which three copies have been and now are on file in the office of
the Fire Chief and the same are hereby adopted and incorporated as
fully as if set forth at length herein, subject to the deletions,
modifications or amendments set forth hereinafter. This adoption shall
include all appendix chapters and all relative reference standards
not adopted or restricted under the Pennsylvania Construction Code
Act (Act 45 of 1999), unless such standards are adopted in accordance with the
provisions provided for municipal amendment to the Pennsylvania Construction
Code Act.
The intent of this code is to regulate those health, safety and welfare issues in legally existing buildings that are critical to the safe occupancy of said buildings and issues that are critical to the safety of the community. This article shall not apply to new construction that is otherwise regulated or under construction under permits issued under the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act (Act 45 of 1999). All provisions of the International Fire Code referenced herein regulating new construction, additions, alterations or repairs under the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act are hereby excluded from enforcement under this article. This code shall regulate and govern the safeguarding of property from fire and explosion hazards arising from the storage, handling and use of hazardous substances, materials and devices, and from conditions hazardous to life or property in the occupancy of buildings and premises herein provided; providing for the issuance of permits and collection of fees therefor; and each and all of the regulations, provisions, penalties, conditions and terms of said Fire Code on file in the office of the Fire Chief of the City of Coatesville are hereby referred to, adopted, and made a part hereof, as if fully set out in this article, with the additions, insertions, deletions and changes, if any, prescribed in §
115-26 of this article. The fees and regulations may be modified by resolution of City Council.
The Fire Prevention Code (International Fire Code) hereby adopted
is amended as follows:
A. Section 101.1, Title, is amended to read as follows:
Section 101.1 Title. These regulations shall be
known as the "Fire Prevention Code of the City of Coatesville," hereinafter
referred to as "this code."
B. Section 103.1, General, is amended to read as follows:
Section 103.1 General. The Bureau of Fire is established
within the jurisdiction under the direction of the fire code official.
The function of the Bureau of Fire shall be the implementation, administration
and enforcement of this code. As the phrase "Bureau of Fire" is substituted
for the model code nomenclature "Department of Fire Prevention" each
and every reference in this code to "Department of Fire Prevention"
shall be amended and replaced with the term "Bureau of Fire.
C. Section 103.2, Appointment, is amended to read as follows:
Section 103.2 Appointment. The code official shall
be substituted to replace references to "fire code official" as set
forth in the model code so that all references in the model code to
"fire code official" shall be amended and replaced with "code official."
Further, the code official(s) as just defined shall consist of the
Fire Chief of the City of Coatesville and any duly appointed assistant
code official(s) as well as all career firefighters employed by the
City. Any code official as identified above must qualify for such
designation by having been trained to no less than IFSAC/Pro-Board
Fire Inspector I Certification or equivalent as determined by the
Fire Chief.
D. New Section 105.3.9, Payment of permit fee, is added by amendment
to read as follows:
Section 105.3.9 Payment of permit fee. The fees for permits for all required under this code shall be as set forth in the fee schedule established in Chapter
108, Fees, of the City of Coatesville, which such fees shall be established by resolution of City Council.
E. New Section 105.3.10, Fee refunds, is added by amendment to read
as follows:
Section 105.3.10. Fee refunds. The code official
shall not be authorized to refund fees upon the written request of
the applicant if such request is made later than 30 days after the
issuance of the permit.
F. Sections 109.3 and 111.4 are amended with the following changes as
noted below:
Section 109.3: Insert "summary offense," "$1,000"
and "90 days" in the locations in brackets in this code.
Section 111.4: Insert "$300" and "$1,000" in the
locations in brackets in this code.
G. Section 307.1 prohibiting open burning is replaced with a new Section
307.1 (governing outdoor burning) and a new Section 307.1.1A (enacted
to address illegal burning) is enacted by amendment to read as follows:
Section 307.1.1 Outdoor burning. Outdoor burning,
bonfires, and recreational fires are prohibited in the City without
a permit. Portable outdoor fireplaces may be used in accordance with
the fire prevention code.
Section 307.1.1 Illegal burning. If a fire call is generated due to any illegal open burning, the owner of the property on which such illegal burning occurred shall pay the Bureau of Fire a fee of not less than $100 for the response. In addition, if any services are rendered to extinguish any illegal burn, the property owner shall be held responsible to pay the City a sum based on the apparatus response fee schedule in Chapter
108, but which additional amount will not be less than the $100 illegal burn fee.
H. Section 307.4.3, portable outdoor fireplaces, is amended by the removal
of the "exception" and the following quoted language is removed in
its entirety and deleted:
"Exception: Portable outdoor fireplaces used at
one- and two-family dwellings."
I. Section 3304, Explosive materials storage and handling, is amended
by a new Section 3304.1 prohibiting the storage of explosives and
explosive materials within the City of Coatesville; and all other
subsections of Section 3304 (Subsections 3304.2 through 3304.10.7)
are deleted. The remaining Section 3304.1, as amended, states as follows:
Section 3304.1.1: Storage. The storage of explosives
and explosive materials is prohibited within the corporate limits
of the City of Coatesville.
J. The geographic limits referred to in certain sections of the 2009
International Fire Code are hereby established by amendment to add
the following quoted language as noted:
Section 3404.2.9.6.1 (geographic limits in which the storage of Class I and Class II liquids in aboveground tanks outside of buildings is prohibited): "See §
115-5 of City Code (storage of flammable liquids) which is controlling and is interpreted as applied to Class I and Class II liquids."
Section 3406.2.4.4 (geographic limits in which the storage of Class I and Class II liquids in aboveground tanks outside of buildings is prohibited): "See §
115-5 of City Code (storage of flammable liquids) which is controlling and is interpreted as applied to Class I and Class II liquids."
Section 3505.2 (geographic limits in which the storage of flammable cryogenic fluids in stationary containers is prohibited): "See §
115-5 of City Code (storage of flammable liquids) which is controlling and is interpreted as applied to flammable cryogenic fluids)."
Section 3804.2 (geographic limits in which the storage of liquefied petroleum gas is restricted for the protection of heavily populated or congested areas): "See §
115-5 of City Code (storage of flammable liquids) which is controlling and is interpreted as applied to liquefied petroleum gas."
In all matters that are regulated by the law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or by regulations of departments or agencies of the commonwealth promulgated by authority of law, such laws or regulations or other ordinances of the City of Coatesville, as the case may be, shall control where the requirements thereof are the same as or in excess of the provisions of this Part
2. The code shall control in all cases where the state requirements or the requirements of other ordinances of this City are not as strict as those contained in this Part
2.
The provisions of this Part
2, so far as they are the same as those of ordinances and/or codes in force immediately prior to the enactment of this Part
2, are intended as a continuation of such ordinances and codes and not as new enactments. The provisions of this Part
2 shall not affect any act done or liability incurred, nor shall they affect any suit or prosecution pending or to be instituted to enforce any right or penalty or to punish any offense under the authority of any of the repealed ordinances.
If any portion of this article shall be determined to be unconstitutional,
illegal or unenforceable, then the portion and only that portion of
this article which is deemed to be unconstitutional, illegal or unenforceable
shall be severed from the remainder of this article and all other
terms thereof shall remain in full force and effect.
This article shall be effective 30 days after publication following
final adoption in accordance with the City Charter and the Third Class
City Code.
[Added 1-14-2013 by Ord. No. 1398-2013]
Pursuant to Section 2101 of the Third Class City Code, Act of June 23, 1931, P.L.
932, No. 317, as amended, the City Council of the City of Coatesville
provides fire protection within the City through the Fire Department
of the City of Coatesville. The City wishes to receive reimbursement
for any and all costs and/or expenses incurred by the Fire Department
of the City of Coatesville which may be obtainable by the said Fire
Department by the submission of claims submitted solely to the individual
property owners' insurance carrier - and recognizing
that it is a finding of the City Council of the City of Coatesville
that the individual property owners may maintain insurance coverage
within their casualty insurance policies, homeowners' policies
and/or other applicable policies that will provide reimbursement to
the City of Coatesville for fire fighting and other services rendered
to the individual property owners' properties in response to
any emergency services request.
The City is hereby authorized and directed, by and through its
officers and authorized representatives, to ascertain what insurance
coverages may be applicable and available under any given circumstance,
and to take all necessary and affirmative steps to apply for and receive
reimbursement from any insurance carriers where a property owner is
or may be insured to reimburse the City for any cost and/or expense
incurred for services, supplies and/or equipment used for or provided
to the property owner by the Fire Department of the City of Coatesville.
Under no circumstances shall any property owner ever receive
a bill from the City for fire protection or other services provided
by the Fire Department of the City of Coatesville except in cases
of false alarms and fires intentionally set by the property owner.
A false alarm is any call to the Bureau of Fire or to any other
emergency resource requiring a response by personnel as follows:
A. Any such call made in a malicious or mischievous manner or with a
malicious or mischievous manner.
B. A call to respond to a system malfunction or trouble alarm.
C. A call to respond to an elevator alarm without actual entrapment.
D. Unintentional calls such as testing, fire drills or repeated nuisance
alarms.
E. Other calls of similar nature not described above.
The costs of services, equipment and supplies for which reimbursement
as well as fines for false alarms are to be set by resolution of City
Council. The resolutions for the costs of services, equipment and
supplies will be established based upon an analysis of the costs for
such services, including an administrative charge of 5%.
This Article
IV of Chapter
115 of the City Code shall be liberally construed to accomplish its purpose to compensate and/or reimburse the City of Coatesville from insurance proceeds only for costs and/or expenses incurred while providing service pursuant to the duties imposed upon the City and incurred while providing services for the Fire Department of the City of Coatesville.