Contact: Colleen Roche/Jennifer Chait (212) 788-2958
Specifically, this legislation would require sprinklers in all newly constructed multiple dwellings with four or more units. In addition, the bill would require the installation of sprinklers in existing multiple dwellings with four or more units, along with hotels or motels, when the cost of renovations exceeds 50 percent of the building's value.
Introductory Number 198-B would render the tampering with a fire sprinkler system a misdemeanor. The bill would also require the Fire Commissioner to promulgate rules requiring multiple dwelling owners to distribute to their tenants a fire safety plan, which must be acceptable to the Fire Commissioner prior to its distribution. Building owners must also place on the inside of each tenant's main door a notice informing the occupants of the fire safety and evacuation procedures for the building. Finally, the owner must also post the fire safety and evacuation plan by the building's mailboxes.
While Introductory Number 198-B is a step in the right direction, it also represents a lost opportunity by the City Council to engage in comprehensive fire safety reform. In January of this year, I appointed a Task Force on Fire Sprinklers to study and recommend new ways to improve fire safety in the City. The Task Force issued a report on February 23, 1999 - before the City Council passed Introductory Number 198-B.
The recommendations in the report called for a public address system in all existing high rise residential buildings that do not have sprinklers, along with requiring sprinklers in all new one, two and three family homes. The City Council has failed to include either recommendation in this legislation, and the reasons for their absence have yet to be adequately explained.
In making its recommendations, the Task Force did a thorough review of the costs and benefits associated with public address systems and the installation of sprinklers in new one, two and three family homes. The Task Force concluded that the financial costs associated with sprinklers and public address systems are outweighed by the life and death situations that are faced by our brave firefighters, and the residents of this City whom they protect.
Therefore, I urge the City Council to enact all the recommendations set forth by the Task Force so that all New Yorkers can enjoy the most practical fire safety protection that we, as elected officials, have the responsibility to provide. However, because the bill does represent progress and includes some of the recommendations of the Task Force, I am inclined to sign it into law.
For the reasons previously stated, I will now sign the bill.