§ 27-292 Building access.
Provisions shall be made for access by the fire department to every building as follows:
(a) Above Grade. Access shall be provided directly from the outdoors to each story below a height of one hundred feet except to the first story or ground floor, by at least one window or readily identifiable access panel within each fifty feet or fraction thereof of horizontal length of every wall that fronts on a street or frontage space. Windows shall be openable or breakable from both the inside and the outside, and shall have a size when open of at least twenty-four inches by thirty-six inches. Panels shall be openable from both the inside and outside and shall have a height when open of forty-eight inches and a width of at least thirty-two inches. The sill of the window or panel shall not be higher than thirty-six inches above the inside floor.
(b) Below grade. Access shall be provided directly from the outdoors to the first basement or cellar story below grade, except as provided in paragraphs two, three and four of this subdivision, within each one hundred feet or fraction thereof of horizontal length of every wall that fronts on a street or frontage space. Such access shall be by stairs, doors, windows or other means that provide an opening forty-eight inches high and thirty-two inches wide, the sill of which shall not be higher than thirty-six inches above the inside floor. If an areaway is used to provide below grade access, the minimum horizontal dimension shall be at least one-third the depth of the areaway or six feet whichever is less.
(1) Access to additional stories below grade is not mandatory since they are required to be sprinklered as provided in subdivision k of section 27-954 of article four of subchapter seventeen of this chapter.
(2) One and two-family dwellings need not provide direct access.
(3) Any building classified in occupancy group J-2 not more than three stories in height and with not more than two dwelling units on any story need not provide direct access when such first basement or cellar story is used for dwelling units or for uses accessory to the residential use in the building.
(4) Except as provided in paragraph three of this subdivision, for buildings classified in occupancy group J-1 or J-2 only one direct access from the outdoors to the first basement or cellar story consisting of a stair or door shall be required when such story is used for dwelling units or for uses accessory to the residential use in the building.
(c) Signs. Where wall signs are erected to cover doors or windows of existing buildings, access panels shall be provided as necessary to comply with the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section.
(d) Location. Wherever practicable, one access opening in each story shall provide access to a stairway, or where there is no stairway at the exterior wall, one access opening in each story shall be located as close as practicable to a stairway.
(e) Exemptions. The provisions of subdivisions (a) through (d) of this section shall not apply to any story that is completely protected by an automatic sprinkler system conforming to the construction requirements of subchapter seventeen.
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1987/058.
