A+ | A- | Reset
92.15 Smoke Detectors
92.15 SMOKE DETECTORS
 
(a)         Definitions
 
For the purpose of this section the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
           
(1)         “DWELLING UNIT” - A structure, building, area, room, or combination of rooms occupied by persons for sleeping or living excluding privately owned and occupied single-family dwellings until the time of sale. (Ord. 10-1988)
 
(2)         “HOSPITAL” - A building or part thereof used for medical, psychiatric, obstetrical, or surgical care, on a 24-hour basis, of inpatients. The term “HOSPITAL” includes general hospitals, mental hospitals, tuberculosis hospitals, children’s hospitals, and other such facilities providing inpatient care.
 
(3)         “NURSING HOME” - A building or part thereof used for the lodging, boarding, and nursing care, on a 24-hour basis, of persons who, because of mental or physical incapacity, may be unable to provide for their own needs and safety without the assistance of another person.   The term “NURSING HOME” includes nursing and convalescent homes, skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, and infirmaries or homes for the aged.
           
(4)         “OWNER” - Any person who, alone, jointly or severally with other persons has legal title to any premises; any person who has the charge, care, or control over any premises as an agent, officer, fiduciary, or employee of the owner; the committee, conservator, or legal guardian of an owner who is non compos mentis, a minor, or otherwise under a disability; a trustee, elected or appointed, or a person required by law to execute a trust, other than a trustee under a deed of trust to secure the payment of money; or an executor, administrator, receiver, fiduciary, officer appointed by any court, or other similar representative of the owner or his estate. “OWNER” does not include a lessee, sublessee, or other person who merely has the right to occupy or possess a premises.
 
(5)         “RESIDENTIAL-CUSTODIAL CARE FACILITY” - A building, or part thereof, used for the lodging or boarding of persons who are incapable of self-preservation because of age or physical or mental limitations, or who are detained for correctional purposes; this includes homes for the aged, nurseries (custodial care for children under six years of age), institutions for the mentally retarded (care institutions) and halfway houses, as well as sheltered living facilities and halfway houses. “RESIDENTIAL-CUSTODIAL CARE FACILITY” does not include day-care facilities that do not provide lodging or boarding for institutional occupants.
           
(6)         “SLEEPlNG AREA” - A bedroom or room intended for sleeping, or a combination of rooms or rooms intended for sleeping within a dwelling unit, which are located on the same floor and are not separated by another habitable room, such as a living room, dining room, or kitchen but not a bathroom, hallway, or closet. A dwelling unit may have more than one sleeping area.   “SLEEPING AREA” does not include common usage areas in structures with more than one dwelling unit, such as corridors, lobbies, and basements.
           
(7)         “SMOKE DETECTOR” - A device which detects visible or invisible particles of combustion.
           
(8)         “SUBSTANTIALLY REHABILITATED” - Any improvement to a structure which is valued greater than one-half of the assessed valuation of the property including the land. (Ord. 81-1980)
 
(b)         General requirements
 
(1)        The owner of an existing dwelling unit, hotel, motel, hospital, nursing home, and residential-custodial care facility shall install smoke detectors as required by this section.
 
(2)        The owner of each dwelling unit, hotel, motel, hospital, nursing home, jail, prison, and residential-custodial care facility which is constructed or substantially rehabilitated under a building permit issued after November 5, 1980 shall install smoke detectors as required by law.
           
(3)        The owner of each dwelling unit, hotel, motel, hospital, nursing home, jail, prison, and residential-custodial care facility, except as provided in division (2) above, shall install smoke detectors as required by this section within 180 days from November 5, 1980. (0rd. 81-1980)
 
(c)         Locations
 
(1)        The owner of each dwelling unit shall install at least one smoke detector to protect each sleeping area. In an efficiency, the owner shall install the smoke detector in the room used for sleeping. In all other dwelling units, the owner shall install the smoke detector outside the bedrooms but in the immediate vicinity of the sleeping area.
 
(2)        The owner of each hotel and motel shall install at least one smoke detector to protect each guest room or guest suite. For the purpose of this division, “GUEST SUITE” means a combination of rooms that are always occupied as a single unit. The owner of the hotel or motel shall install the smoke detectors as directed by the Fire Chief of the city.
           
(3)        The owner of each hospital, nursing home, jail, prison, and residential-custodial care facility shall install smoke detectors as directed by the Fire Chief of the city, and in each corridor that is adjacent to a room used for sleeping, but in no case spaced further apart than 30 feet or more than 15 feet from any wall; or in each room used for sleeping.
           
(4)        An owner subject to the provisions of this section, shall install each smoke detector on the ceiling at a minimum of six inches from the wall, or on a wall at a minimum of six inches from the ceiling.   He may not install a smoke detector in a dead air space, such as where the ceiling meets the wall. (Ord. 81-1980)
 
(5)        In addition to any other structures listed in this chapter, smoke detectors shall be installed beginning October 1, 1988 in all structures which have rooms used for sleeping. (Ord. 10-1988)
 
(d)         Equipment
 
An owner subject to the provisions of this subchapter shall install a smoke detector which is capable of sensing visible or invisible particles of combustion and emitting an audible signal.   The owner shall install a smoke detector which is of a type approved by the Fire Chief of the city consistent with any appropriate federal regulations. (0rd. 81-1980)
 
(e)         Installation
 
(1)        The owner of each dwelling unit, hotel, motel, hospital, nursing home, jail, prison, and residential-custodial care facility may directly wire the smoke detector to the power supply of the building.
           
(2)        In each dwelling unit, hotel, motel, hospital, nursing home, jail, prison, and residential-custodial care facility which is in existence on November 5, 1980, or which is constructed under a building permit issued 180 days before November 5, 1980, or which is substantially rehabilitated, the owner may install a smoke detector which operates from a plug-in outlet fitted with a plug restrainer device if the outlet is not controlled by an on-off switch and if the cord connecting the smoke detector with the outlet is not controlled by an on-off switch.
           
(3)        In each dwelling unit, hotel, motel, hospital, nursing home, jail, prison,       and residential-custodial care facility which is in existence on November 5, 1980, the owner may install a monitored battery powered smoke detector. (Ord. 81-1980)
 
(f)          Maintenance
           
An owner subject to the provisions of this subchapter shall maintain each smoke detector in a reliable operating condition and shall make periodic inspections and tests to insure that each smoke detector is in proper working condition, unless the owner and occupant have otherwise agreed in writing between themselves, in which event the occupant shall assume maintenance responsibility. (Ord. 81-1980; Ord. 16-1988)
           
            (g)        Permits
           
No owner may permanently wire a smoke detector to the electrical system of a structure without first obtaining an electrical permit from the building commissioner. (Ord. 81-1980)
 
(h)        Private residences
           
No residential proxy may be sold or traded in the city unless and until the seller installs or provides for the installation of smoke detectors in accordance with 92.15(b), as applicable.   This requirement may be met by the seller placing in the escrow account for the use of the buyer sufficient funds to pay for the installation. (Ord. 81-1980)


More Categories: