BCAB #969 - Exterior Exit Stairs and Fire Alarm for Motel, Sentences 3.4.5.1.(6) and; 3.2.4.1.(3)

January 26, 1988

BCAB #969

Re: Exterior Exit Stairs and Fire Alarm for Motel, Sentences 3.4.5.1.(6) and; 3.2.4.1.(3)

With reference to your letter of December 24, 1987, regarding exiting. Our decisions on the two questions raised are:

1. We are dealing with an exterior passageway served by an exit stair at each end, so Sentence 3.4.5.1.(6) applies. This does not require that the stairs be enclosed, and provides exemption from the provisions of Sentence 3.4.5.1.(1), which contains the fire separation requirements between an exit and the remainder of the building.

On this issue, while we understand the concern of the authority having jurisdiction, we are unable to take the provision of the 1980 Code as requiring that these stairs be enclosed and fire separated. The situation is addressed more effectively in the 1985 Code, but those provisions cannot be applied retroactively.

2. We consider the building to comply with the provisions of Sentence 3.2.4.1.(3), and thus exempt from the mandatory fire alarm requirement.

J.C. Currie, Chair