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Township of Verona, NJ
Essex County
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[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Verona 3-21-2016 by Ord. No. 4-16. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A. 
Pursuant to Section 11 of the Uniform Fire Safety Act (P.L. 1983, c. 383), N.J.S.A. 52:27D-202, the New Jersey Fire Code shall be locally enforced in the Township of Verona.
B. 
The Fire Prevention Code of the municipality shall consist of a certain code known as the "New Jersey Uniform Fire Code," adopted February 18, 1985, and is hereby incorporated in this chapter as if set forth at length. Required copies thereof have been placed on file in the office of the Township Clerk and in the Fire Prevention Bureau and shall remain in said offices so long as this chapter is in effect, for use and examination by the public.
The Township of Verona Fire Prevention Bureau shall be the local enforcing agency for the Uniform Fire Safety Act and the codes and regulations adopted under it in all buildings, structures and premises within the established boundaries of Verona, other than owner-occupied one- and two-family dwellings, and shall faithfully comply with the requirements of the Uniform Fire Safety Act and the Uniform Fire Code.
A. 
Within the Township of Verona shall be created the Fire Prevention Bureau.
B. 
The Fire Official shall serve as the chief administrator of the Fire Bureau and responsible for its supervision. There may be a Fire Prevention Specialist as may be deemed necessary by the Township Manager.
C. 
The Fire Official shall be appointed by and report to the Township Manager. The Fire Prevention Specialist shall be appointed by the Township Manager; report to and perform his duties under the authority of the Fire Official.
D. 
Minimum certification for the position of Fire Official shall consist of a valid Fire Official certificate issued by the State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
E. 
Minimum certification for the position of Fire Prevention Specialist shall consist of a valid Fire Inspector certificate issued by the State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
F. 
Minimum continued education courses for the positions of Fire Official and Fire Prevention Specialists shall be as mandated by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
G. 
To ensure that there will be no conflict, an independent counsel shall be appointed to assist the Fire Prevention Bureau in enforcing the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code should the need arise.
H. 
The Fire Official shall serve for a term of three years, commencing January 1 and ending December 31 of the third year. If needed, any vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term(s).
I. 
The Township Manager may remove the Fire Official and Fire Prevention Specialist and other employees for inefficiency, misconduct or other just cause. Each employee so removed shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard by the appointing authority.
The life-hazard use registration fees shall be established by the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code, N.J.A.C. 5:70-2.9(a).
The Fire Prevention Bureau, as designated by this chapter, shall carry out the periodic inspections of life hazard uses required by the Uniform Fire Code on behalf of the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.
A. 
The non-life hazard use registration fees are hereby established and shall be as provided in Chapter A565, Fees.
B. 
Assessed fees shall be satisfied by the 30th day after its issuance.
C. 
Unpaid fees outstanding after the 30th day shall result in a penalty equal to the amount of the unpaid fee. Ten additional days may be granted for payment of the fee plus penalty.
D. 
Any person who fails to immediately pay a money judgment entered against him pursuant to this section is subject to the penalties in accordance with the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code, N.J.A.C. 5:70-2.12.
E. 
All moneys recovered in the form of penalties shall be paid into a dedicated trust account, herein after titled the Uniform Fire Safety Act Penalty Account, and shall be appropriated for the enforcement of the Act.
F. 
If the fee and penalty remain unpaid after the thirty-day extension period, the enforcing agency may institute legal proceedings in Municipal Court pursuant to the Penalty Enforcement Law (N.J.S.A. 2A:58-10 et seq.).
In addition to the inspections required pursuant to the Uniform Fire Safety Act and the regulations adopted thereunder, all buildings, structures and uses within the Township of Verona, except for owner-occupied one- and two-family dwelling units, shall be annually inspected by the Fire Prevention Bureau for compliance with the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code.
A. 
Permit fees for Type 1-4 Uniform Fire Code permits shall be established by the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code, N.J.A.C. 5:70-2.9(c).
B. 
Permit fees for the storage of flammable, combustible, hazardous and unstable materials in liquid, gas or solid form are hereby established and shall be as provided in Chapter A565, Fees.
A. 
The response of Fire Prevention Bureau personnel to fire alarm conditions shall apply to all occupancies.
B. 
Upon the occurrence of a fire alarm in any of the afore-listed occupancies, during the normal business hours of the Fire Prevention Bureau, there may be a response from Fire Prevention Bureau personnel. The following constitute legitimate reasons for a response from the Fire Prevention Bureau:
(1) 
To enforce the Fire Code or Fire Ordinance and to issue documentation, violations and notification as may be required by the Township of Verona.
(2) 
To assist the Fire Chief or his/her duly authorized representative. This may be done with any knowledge acquired during previous fire inspections performed by Fire Prevention Bureau personnel. This shall be of fire-staff-type assistance, not fire-command-type assistance.
C. 
Response to all occupancies after normal business hours may occur by on-call Fire Prevention Bureau personnel or by the Fire Official or by request of the Fire Chief, the Fire Chief's duly authorized representative or the Police Department, when made through the communications center.
D. 
Response of the Fire Prevention Bureau to residential fire alarm conditions may be by request of the Fire Chief or Police Department. This chapter shall not interfere with the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code N.J.A.C. 5:71-3.3(a)25, on investigation contained in Subchapter 3, Organization, Administration and Enforcement.
A. 
As used in this chapter, "false alarm" shall mean the transmission either directly or indirectly to the Police Department of the Township of Verona of any automatic fire alarm, smoke alarm, fire sprinkler water flow alarm, or carbon monoxide alarm that was not caused by a fire, a smoke condition or such other condition that is beyond the control of the owner.
B. 
The Police Department shall report all false alarms to the Fire Prevention Bureau which shall investigate and determine the cause of the false alarm. The Fire Prevention Bureau shall maintain a list of all false alarms. Said list shall identify the locations of the false alarms and the number of false alarms at the location during the calendar year.
C. 
Penalties for false alarms transmitted from a multifamily residential complex, business, commercial, eleemosynary and/or industrial premises are hereby established and shall be as provided in Chapter A565, Fees.
D. 
Penalties for false alarms transmitted from single-family detached dwellings, individual townhouses and condominium unit dwellings are hereby established and shall be as provided in Chapter A565, Fees.
E. 
Any person, firm, company or corporation that causes to be transmitted a false alarm as the result of installing, repairing, testing, tampering with or performing any work to an automatic fire alarm, smoke alarm, fire sprinkler, water flow alarm, carbon monoxide alarm system, or as a result of structural alterations, renovations, remodeling or construction shall be subject to a penalty of not less than $200 nor more than $1,000 for each transmission of a false alarm.
F. 
All penalties assessed for violation of this chapter shall be paid into the Uniform Fire Safety Act Penalty Account.
Blocking access, interfering or tampering with or causing malicious damage to any fire alarm, suppression system, fire communications system, fire detection, first-aid, firefighting system, device, unit or part thereof shall result in a mandatory fine of $500 per day per violation. During an actual alarm, the condition shall result in a mandatory fine of $500 per day per violation. Fines shall remain in effect until conditions are deemed corrected by the Fire Prevention Bureau. Failure to comply shall result in an issued summons to appear in court. Fines assessed from this chapter shall go into the Uniform Fire Safety Act Penalty Account.
The minimum size of portable fire extinguishers for job site location concerning hot tar kettles shall be 15 pounds. The type shall be B:C dry chemical. The minimum number of portable extinguishers per each kettle job site shall be:
A. 
One extinguisher, located between 10 and 15 feet from the kettle, kept accessible to the operator of the job site kettle.
B. 
One additional extinguisher, located on the roof level of the job site in the area where hot-tar roof work is being done.
A. 
Storage of flammable liquids in outside aboveground tanks is prohibited and not permitted within the limits of the Township.
B. 
New bulk plants for flammable liquids are prohibited and not permitted within the limits of the Township.
Bulk storage of liquefied petroleum gas is restricted and not permitted within the limits of the Township.
Storage of explosives and blasting agents is prohibited and not permitted within the limits of the Township.
A. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to ignite, display, possess or use in any manner whatsoever, within any commercial structure, any pyrotechnics, sparklers and smoke/fog machines.
B. 
Exempted from the provisions of this section is any testing or training exercises conducted by the Township of Verona Fire Prevention Bureau, Fire Department or other recognized fire brigade.
C. 
Any person violating this section shall be subject to a penalty of $1,000 per occurrence, payable to the Uniform Fire Safety Act Penalty Account.
A. 
No person shall erect, construct, place or maintain any bumps, fences, gates, bars, pipes, wood or metal horses or any other type of obstruction which would prevent or hinder access to a fire hydrant in or on any street within the Township.
B. 
The word "street," as used in this chapter, shall mean any roadway accessible to the public for vehicular traffic, including, but not limited to, private streets or access lanes, as well as all public streets and highways within the boundaries of the Township.
C. 
Exceptions to the prohibitions of Subsection A above may be granted, in writing, upon good cause shown by the Fire Official; provided, that no such proposed obstruction shall be of such design or nature that injury may occur to fire suppression personnel or damage may occur to fire suppression equipment.
D. 
Any person responsible for installations in violation of Subsection A above shall be liable to a penalty of not more than $500 per day per violation.
E. 
Penalties shall be enforced and collected by the Fire Official under the authority of the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code.
A. 
When a nonresidential property within the Township of Verona is protected by an automatic alarm system or a fire sprinkler system, a key box of a UL type approved by the Township of Verona Fire Official shall be installed on the property location.
B. 
The owner and/or occupant of a nonresidential property or their agent shall be responsible for ordering and installing a Knox Company Rapid Entry System or its commercial equivalent.
C. 
The rapid entry system shall have a single lock and alarm tamper switch. If the building is protected by a burglary alarm system(s), it shall be connected so that in the event the box is open or removed from the building, an alarm will sound. If the building is not protected by a burglar alarm system, the box may, in the owner's discretion, be connected to the fire alarm system, provided the connection is on the fire side signaling an alarm. Connection to the fire alarm requires the box to be zoned alternately from any fire detection and noted on the fire alarm annunciator panel as a rapid entry system.
D. 
The box shall contain:
(1) 
Keys to locked points of ingress, whether on the interior or exterior of the building.
(2) 
Keys to locked mechanical equipment rooms.
(3) 
Keys to locked electrical rooms.
(4) 
Keys to elevator rooms and emergency elevator keys.
(5) 
Keys to other areas as directed by the Fire Official.
E. 
All new commercial and/or manufacturing buildings constructed after the effective date of this section, including all existing commercial and/or manufacturing buildings when there is a change of tenancy or ownership, or when reconstruction is in excess of 30% of the usable building footage shall provide a key box at a location approved by the Fire Official. The key box shall be provided with all keys as set forth in Subsection D above. The box keys shall be provided prior to occupancy and/or final inspection.
F. 
Any structure or site that has a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week, on-site guard service shall be exempted from the provisions of this section.
G. 
Any person violating the provisions of this section, after having received a prior written warning notice by the Fire Official, shall be subject to a fine of $200 for each violation.
A. 
The Fire Prevention Bureau shall inspect all residential occupancies for compliance with the required number of approved smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and portable fire extinguishers in accordance with the Township of Verona ordinances and the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code.
B. 
Fire Prevention Bureau inspection shall occur prior to the time of resale, renting or change of occupancy for residential purposes. Upon inspection, a certificate of smoke detector, carbon monoxide and portable fire extinguisher compliance (CSDCMAPFEC) shall be issued by the Fire Official.
C. 
Where applicable, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors may be battery-operated units, as approved by the Fire Official. Smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and portable fire extinguishers shall be UL-listed, FM-approved or carry the seal of an authorized recognized approval agency.
D. 
Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors shall be installed as recommended by the manufacturer and approved by the Fire Official or his authorized representative. Portable fire extinguishers shall be installed in accordance with the New Jersey Uniform Fire Code N.J.A.C. 5:70-4.19.
E. 
The inspection fee for the issuance of a certificate of smoke detector, carbon monoxide and portable fire extinguisher compliance for all residential dwellings, except multiple-family dwellings, shall be as provided in Chapter A565, Fees.
F. 
Reinspection fees. Fees for the reinspection of any residential property, except multiple-family dwellings, shall be as provided in Chapter A565, Fees.
A. 
All structures, including, but not limited to, office buildings, strip malls and malls containing more than four separate rental spaces shall have the main entrance door(s) and all exterior door(s) properly marked. The marking shall consist of the following:
(1) 
The name of the business or corporation.
(2) 
The address or suite number or store number.
B. 
All structures three stories or more containing more than one interior stairwell shall have all stairwell doors marked both on the interior of the building as well as the interior of the stairwell. The marking shall consist of the following:
(1) 
The floor number.
(2) 
A stairwell letter, such as A, B, C, etc.
C. 
The lettering and numbering shall be at least four inches in height, located not more than three feet from the bottom of the door. The color shall be contrasting to the door color and approved by the Fire Official.
D. 
The aforementioned requirements shall apply to all structures and shall be enforced by the Fire Prevention Bureau beginning with the first annual inspection to be scheduled after the effective date of this section. Failure to comply with this section will result in a $200 penalty being assessed. All penalties assessed under this section shall be paid into the Uniform Fire Safety Act Penalty Account.
Pursuant to Sections 15 and 17 of the Uniform Fire Safety Act, (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-206 and 52:27D-208) any person aggrieved by any order of the local enforcement agency shall have the right to appeal to the Essex County Construction Board of Appeals.