Tragically this winter has already proven as one of the deadliest on record and its just begun.
At 2363 Prospect Ave., Bronx a three year old boy started a fire in a first-floor apartment. The boy had been playing with the burners on the kitchen stove. When the mother fled the burning apartment with the boy she left the apartment door open. The tragic result was the deaths of at least 12 people, four of them children. It was the deadliest fire in New York City in more than 25 years.
At 1547 Commonwealth Ave., Parkchester, Bronx 23 people, including nine children, were injured. The fire started in a furniture store on the first floor of a four-story building then spread to the apartments on the floors above.
At 211 West 56th St., Manhattan. Smoking was the cause two-alarm fire that killed a man Christmas morning. The fire broke out on the 35th floor of the Carnegie Mews high-rise on West 56th St. near Seventh Ave.
Tragically, serious injuries and deaths in multi-family residential buildings are thematic during the cold Winter months as building residents use space heaters, some even resort to using open ovens and burners on stoves to heat their apartments. Overloaded power-strips, candles, Christmas Tree Lights, Menorahs all have led to deadly blazes killing our fellow new Yorkers. Thankfully the FDNY has taken new steps and made new measures to help improve the safety of people living in multi-family apartment buildings in New York City.
New York City residential property owners and managers must be aware of a new local law requirement effecting their properties. The deadline is rapidly approaching.
Back in June of 2016 The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) adopted a new rule which has become a brand new New York City safety law: 3 RCNY §505-01 which makes very specific new requirements for apartment and guest room identification signs along with directional markings and exit signs. All apartment buildings and hotels in New York City must comply with this new requirement for apartment door markings and and other signs by March 30th of 2018. However, if your property contains any duplex or triplex units, the property was already required to comply to install these new markings on March 30th, 2017.
This safety law has set very specific standards and requirements for the design and placement of entrance door room number and letter markings for dwelling units. The law applies to all apartments, guest rooms and sleeping rooms in occupancy groups R-1 and occupany group R-2 buildings as well as installing building additional lobby and hallway corridor directional signs and exit signs.
The idea behind the law is that building owners mark apartment entrance doors with very specific emergency markings that serve to assist firefighters, first responders and building occupants to identify apartment numbers in smoke conditions that obscure the regular (eye-level) apartment door numbers signs.
Citing specifics from the rule, “The marking of entrance doors with emergency markings serves to better facilitate firefighting operations, thereby providing a greater level of safety to firefighters and building occupants. The fire emergency marking enables firefighters to identify apartment numbers in smoke conditions that obscure the regular (eye-level) door numbers. Such identification ensures firefighters can more quickly conduct search and rescue operations. Additionally, the fire emergency marking for multi-floor dwelling units will make it possible for firefighters to ascertain whether they are entering the lower level of an apartment, rather than the upper level of an apartment, where temperatures may be unsafe.
The fire emergency marking also assists in identifying apartments that are joined horizontally (such as adjoining apartments that have been combined into a single dwelling unit).”
Specific required symbols and apartment numbers must be of a specific size and materials. All of these signs must be either photoluminescent or retro-reflective. The entrance door markings and signs have the further design requirements: All letters and numbers shall be san serif, not less than one-half inch in height, and shall use Arabic numerals and/or English alphabet capital letters. All signs are low-mounted and must be placed no higher than 12” inches from the floor at each entrance that has the apartment number.
“This is so when we are crawling on the floor, we can find the apartment,” said FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer. “We must have as much information as possible.”
Property owners and managers are advised to take heed to abide by this new safety requirement immediately. This low-cost measure will help control the response to a blackout, fire or smoke emergency and possibly help prevent loss of life.
Evan Lipstein is the president and owner of Hyline Safety Company, Manhattan, N.Y.
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