[HISTORY: Adopted by the Governing Body of the Borough of Allendale 12-28-1967 as Ch. 38 of the 1967 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
No nursing, convalescent or old-age home, as defined in § 175-2 of this chapter, including those existing at the time of adoption of this chapter, shall be operated except under a license issued by the Fire Marshal. Such license shall be valid for one year from the date of issue and shall be revocable for cause after hearing. Application for license shall be made on the form provided for the purpose and, on initial application, shall include plans showing pertinent details of the construction, exit facilities and fire-protection equipment.[1] No Borough license shall be issued until the provisions of this chapter and other applicable laws have been complied with and approval has been obtained from the Board of Health, Fire Marshal and Building Inspector.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 128, Fire Prevention.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
APPROVED
Accepted by the enforcing official as a result of his investigation and experience, or by reason of test, listing or approval by Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc., the National Bureau of Standards, the American Gas Association Laboratories or other nationally recognized testing agencies.
AUTOMATIC FIRE DETECTION SYSTEM
A system which automatically detects a fire condition and actuates a fire alarm signal device.
NURSING, CONVALESCENT or OLD-AGE HOME
A building or buildings used for the lodging, boarding or nursing care on a twenty-four-hour basis of four or more infants of four years of age or under, or children 12 years of age or under, convalescents or aged persons, but shall not include hospitals and mental or correctional institutions.
PERSON
Includes a person, persons, children, infants, firm, corporation or copartnership.
A. 
The number of persons in any room or area used as sleeping quarters shall not exceed the proportion of one adult for each 75 square feet, one child for each 50 square feet, one infant for each 25 square feet.
B. 
No occupancy not under the control of, or necessary to, the administration of a nursing, convalescent or old-age home shall be contained in any building used as sleeping quarters for such occupancy. This section shall not apply to the owners of said nursing, convalescent or old-age home as of the time of passage of this chapter, but shall apply to any and all subsequent owners.
C. 
The basement shall be considered as a story if 1/2 or more of its clear height is above the average elevation of the ground adjoining the building on all sides. An unoccupied attic or roof space shall not be considered as a story.
All buildings shall be completely fireproof.
A. 
Heating apparatus and boiler or furnace rooms shall be separated from other areas by construction having a fire-resistance rating of not less than one hour.
B. 
Hazardous areas such as basements or central storerooms, such as for furniture, mattresses and miscellaneous storage, and similar occupancies intended to contain combustible materials which will either be easily ignited, burn with an intense flame or result in the production of dense smoke and fumes, shall be separated from other areas by construction having a fire-resistance rating of not less than one hour and shall be protected by an approved automatic fire door and automatic sprinkler system.
C. 
The use of attics or basements for the storage of combustible materials is prohibited.
A. 
At least two exitways, remote from each other, shall be provided for every occupied story of a building.
B. 
Exit doorways shall be of such number and so located that the distance of travel from the door of any occupied room to an exit doorway from that floor shall not exceed 75 feet in a sprinklered building, except where buildings are constructed and protected to comply with all requirements applicable to new buildings used for institutional occupancy.
C. 
The aggregate width of exits, stairs and ramps shall be such as to provide sufficient forty-eight-inch exit units at the rate of 15 persons per exit unit for the maximum number of persons that may occupy any floor.
D. 
Each occupied room shall have at least one doorway opening directly to the outside, or to a corridor leading directly or by a stairway or ramp to the outside. All such doorways shall be a minimum of 48 inches in width.
A. 
Stairs and ramps serving in required exitways shall be not less than 36 inches wide in existing nursing, convalescent and old-age homes, and not less than 48 inches wide in existing buildings hereafter converted to or built for such use.
B. 
At least one required exit doorway from each floor above or below the first floor shall lead directly, or through an enclosed corridor, to the outside. A second or third required exit doorway, where a more direct exit is impractical, may lead to a first floor lobby having ample and direct exits to the outside.
C. 
In buildings hereafter converted to use as nursing, convalescent or old-age homes, all floor openings. such as interior stairways, laundry chutes and dumbwaiter shafts, extending to cellar or basement and between occupied floors, shall be enclosed in partitions having a fire-resistance rating of not less than 1/2 hour, or may be wired glass in metal framework.
D. 
In existing buildings used for nursing, convalescent or old-age homes, all floor openings shall be enclosed as required by § 175-7C, except that stairway enclosures may be either at the head or foot of each stairway from one floor to another.
A. 
Corridors and passageways in a required exitway shall be at least 60 inches wide.
B. 
Corridors and passageways in a required exitway shall be unobstructed and shall not lead through any room or space used for a purpose that may obstruct free passage. Corridors and passageways which lead to the outside from any required stairway shall be enclosed as required for stairways.
A. 
Exit doorways shall be at least 48 inches wide, open out and be equipped with panic hardware.
[Amended 9-14-1972]
B. 
All doorways to stairways, vertical openings, passageways or hazardous areas which are required to be enclosed shall be provided with fire doors or self-closing smoke-resistive doors (See § 175-10B).
A. 
In buildings of other than fire-resistive (fireproof or semi-fireproof) construction, all floors above the first floor occupied by persons under care and exceeding 3,000 square feet in area shall be divided into separate areas by smoke barriers, so located as to provide ample space on each side of each door to accommodate the total number of beds on the floor. Doors provided in such smoke barriers shall be smoke-resistive doors, as described in § 175-10B, so installed that they may normally be kept in open position, but will close automatically or may be released manually to self-closing action. No more than five bed patients will be allowed to occupy any floor above the first, and these must be confined in the rooms nearest the outside fire escape. All other patients must be in the ambulatory class on any floor above the first. No patients will be allowed to occupy any floor above the second in nonfireproof buildings.
B. 
Smoke barriers shall have a fire-resistance rating of not less than 1/2 hour. Metal, metal-covered or one-and-three-eighths-inch-thick solid-core flush-type wood doors, so hung as to be reasonably smoketight, may be accepted as smoke-resistive doors. Openings in either smoke barriers or smoke-resistive doors shall be glazed within wired glass.
Signs bearing the word "Exit" in plain legible block letters shall be placed at each doorway, except at doors directly from rooms to corridors or passageways, and except at doors leading obviously to the outside from the entrance floor. Additional signs shall be placed in corridors and passageways wherever necessary to indicate the direction of exit. Letters of signs shall be at least six inches high, except that the letters of internally illuminated exit signs may not be less than 41/2 inches high. All exit and directional signs shall be maintained clearly legible by electric illumination or other acceptable means when natural light fails.
A. 
Wall and ceiling surfaces of all occupied rooms and of all exitways therefrom shall be of such material or so treated as not to have a flame-spread classification of more than 75 according to the method for the "Fire Hazard Classification of Building Materials" of Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc.
B. 
All combustible decorative and acoustical material, including textile floor coverings and curtains located in corridors, passageways or stairways, enclosures and in lobbies or other rooms or spaces for use by occupants or visitors, shall be rendered and maintained flame-resistant. A material shall be deemed to be flame-resistant if it will not ignite and allow flame to spread over the surface when exposed to a match-flame test applied to a piece removed from the material and tested in a safe place. The piece shall be held vertically and the bottom edge exposed to a flame from a common wooden match held in a horizontal position, 1/2 inch underneath the piece, and at a constant location for a minimum of 15 seconds.
A. 
The heating of buildings occupied as nursing, convalescent or old-age homes shall be restricted to steam, hot-water or warm-air systems employing central heating plants, with installation such as to safeguard against the inherent fire hazard. The use of portable heaters of any kind is hereby prohibited.
B. 
Installation of heating and ventilating systems and equipment in accordance with the Code for the Installation of Heat Producing Appliances, Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning, Blower and Exhaust Systems, recommended by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, shall be deemed prima facie evidence of compliance with the requirement that installation be such as to safeguard the inherent fire hazard.
C. 
Lighting shall be restricted to electricity. Electric wiring, motors and other electrical equipment shall be installed in accordance with nationally recognized safe practice. Compliance with the standards of the National Board of Fire Underwriters known as the National Electrical Code shall be deemed prima facie evidence of compliance with nationally recognized safe practice. All wiring shall be installed or repaired by authorized personnel as described in the applicable statutes of the State of New Jersey.
[Amended 9-14-1972]
[Amended 9-14-1972]
Approved-type extinguishers shall be provided on each floor so located that a person will not have to travel more than 30 feet from any point to reach the nearest extinguisher. An additional extinguisher shall be provided in, or adjacent to, each kitchen or basement storage room. All cooking equipment shall have extinguishing equipment and exhaust ducts installed in accordance with National Fire Protection Association 96 or applicable standard.
A. 
Buildings hereafter converted to or constructed for nursing, convalescent or old-age homes, or increased in such use, shall be protected throughout by an approved automatic sprinkler system.
B. 
Sprinkler systems shall be provided with an approved water-flow alarm.
C. 
All systems now installed or to be installed shall be connected to a Borough central fire alarm system or police headquarters.[1]
[Amended 9-14-1972]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection D, Automatic fire-detention systems, which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 9-14-1972.
[Amended 9-14-1972]
Every nursing, convalescent or old-age home shall have at least one attendant on duty, awake and dressed therein at all times, and in addition, one standby attendant within hearing distance and available for emergency service. These attendants shall be at least 18 years of age and capable of performing the required duties of evacuation. No person other than the management or a person under management control shall be considered as an attendant. The number of said attendants shall be one for each wing, floor or section of home or one for every 25 patients, whichever is greater.
A. 
Every nursing, convalescent or old-age home shall formulate a written plan for the protection of all persons in the event of fire, and for their evacuation to areas of refuge and from the building when necessary. All employees shall be instructed and kept informed respecting their duties under the plan. The plan shall be approved by the Fire Marshal every six months.
B. 
Every mattress shall be provided with strong canvas or leather handles so that it may serve as a stretcher when necessary for evacuation.
C. 
Smoking may be permitted in nursing, convalescent or old-age homes only where proper facilities are provided. Smoking shall not be permitted in sleeping quarters except at such times as supervision is provided.
D. 
Every building coming within the scope of this chapter shall be inspected every six months by representatives of the agencies named in § 175-1, in order to ensure proper compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
A. 
This chapter shall be enforced by the Fire Marshal, who shall in no case, except under written order of the Board of Adjustment or the Borough Council, issue a permit for the erection, alteration or addition to any building for use as a nursing, convalescent or old-age home, nor grant any occupancy permit for any building for use for the proposed erection, alteration, addition to or use thereof which would be in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter or any other ordinance of the Borough of Allendale.
B. 
In the case of buildings used as convalescent or nursing homes as of the date of adoption of this chapter, the Council may, on the recommendation of the Fire Marshal, waive any provision of this chapter.