Township of Upper Moreland, PA Fire Prevention Code

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Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided for the repeal of former Art. II, Fire Prevention Code, adopted 7-12-2010 by Ord. No. 1590.

Section 101.1, Title, shall be amended by the insertion of "Township of Upper Moreland" for the name of the jurisdiction.

Section 103, Department of Fire Prevention, shall be amended to replace the term "Department of Fire Prevention," wherever it appears, with the term "Department of Emergency Services."

Section 103.2, Appointment, shall be amended to state the following:

[Amended 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1721; 7-11-2022 by Ord. No. 1732]

103.2 Code official. The Fire Chief of the Township of Upper Moreland or duly appointed assistants shall be the code official as referred to in this code.

Section 105.3, Conditions of a permit, shall be amended by the addition of new subsections 105.3.9 and 105.3.10, stating as follows:

105.3.9 Payment of permit fee. The fees for all permits required under this code shall be as set forth in the fee schedule established in § 140-13, Fire prevention permit fee schedule, of the Code of Ordinances of Upper Moreland Township.

105.3.10 Fee refunds. The code official shall be authorized to refund fees upon the written request of the applicant, made not later than 30 days after the issuance of the permit, as follows:
1.	The full amount of any fee paid hereunder which was erroneously collected for work not requiring a permit or plan review.
2.	The full amount, less a handling charge of 25% of the amount of the permit fee, but not less than $10, when no work was done and no inspection made under a permit which the applicant wishes to have withdrawn after issuance.

Sections 107.1, Maintenance of safeguards, and 107.2, Testing and operation, shall be amended by adding the following at the end of both sections:

Occupancies that have any type of fire protection system that do not require a permit under Section 105, Permits, will be required to have a permit at the cost of $50 for the purpose of verifying the completion of the system's required annual inspection and/or maintenance.

Section 108.1, Board of appeals established, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

108.1 Membership of the Board and court review. The Board of Appeals shall consist of such persons as the Board of Commissioners of the Township of Upper Moreland shall designate to hear the appeal. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Board of Appeals shall have the right to appeal such decision in compliance with the provisions of the Local Agency Law, 2 Pa.C.S.A. § 101 et seq.

Section 109.3.3, Prosecution of violations, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

[Amended 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1721]

109.3.3 Prosecution of violations. The Fire Chief or duly appointed assistants are hereby authorized to institute summary proceedings under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure against any person who shall violate any provision of this code, or who shall fail to comply with any of the requirement hereof, or who shall fail to correct, in the time provided by this code, the defects of which such person has been notified.

Section 109.4, Violation penalties, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

109.4 Violation penalties. Any person who shall violate any provision of this code, or who shall fail to comply with any of the requirements hereof, or who shall fail to correct, in the time provided by this code, the violations of which such person has been notified shall be guilty of a summary offense, which shall be deemed to be a strict liability offense, and shall, upon summary conviction before a District Justice, pay a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 and, in default of payment of such fine, be imprisoned for not less than one day nor more than 30 days. Each day that a violation continues or that a person shall fail to comply with any provision, after notification by the Department of Emergency Services, shall constitute a separate violation, subject to a separate offense punishable by a like fine or penalty.

Section 111.4, Failure to comply, shall be amended by the insertion of "100" and "1,000" for the minimum and maximum fine dollar amounts, to state in full:

111.4 Failure to comply. Any person who shall continue any work after having been served with a stop-work order, except such work as that person is directed to perform to remove a violation or unsafe condition, shall be liable to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000.

Section 509.1, Identification, shall be amended by adding the following at the end of the section:

509.1 Identification. Air-conditioning system rooftop units (RTU) shall be marked using six-inch letters and numbers coinciding with a location inside the building (e.g., RTU 1) to cover all rooftop units. Such information shall be available on site.

Chapter 9, Fire Protection Systems, shall be amended by replacing references to "fire chief" with "Fire Code Official" in sections requiring approval by the fire chief.

Subsections 903.2.1.1 through 903.2.1.5 shall be deleted in their entirety and amended to read as follows:

903.2.1 Group A. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings within Group A when the floor area exceeds 5,000 square feet or the building is more than three stories in height.

Exception: An automatic fire-suppression system shall not be required for a use within Group A-2 with the fire area holding a total occupant load of less than 50 persons.

Exception: An automatic fire-suppression system shall not be required for a use within Group A-5.

Section 903.2.3, Group E, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

903.2.3 Group E. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings within Group E.

Section 903.2.4, Group F-1, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

903.2.4 Group F-1. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings containing a Group F-1 occupancy when the floor area exceeds 5,000 square feet, or the building is more than three stories in height, or where the combined fire area on all floors, including mezzanines, exceeds 10,000 square feet.

Section 903.2.7, Group M, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

903.2.7 Group M. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings within Group M when the floor area exceeds 5,000 square feet, or the building is more than three stories in height, or where the combined fire area on all floors, including mezzanines, exceeds 10,000 square feet.

Section 903.2.9, Group S-1, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

903.2.9 Group S-1. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings when the floor area exceeds 5,000 square feet, or the building is more than two stories in height, or buildings with a repair garage in the basement.

Section 903.2.9.1, Repair garages, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

903.2.9.1 Repair garages. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings used as repair garages in accordance with Section 406 of the International Building Code when the floor area exceeds 5,000 square feet, or the building is more than two stories in height, or buildings with a repair garage in the basement.

Section 903.2.10, Group S-2 enclosed parking garages, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

903.2.10 Group S-2 enclosed parking garages. An automatic fire-suppression system shall be provided throughout all buildings classified as enclosed parking garages in accordance with Section 406.4 of the International Building Code when the floor area exceeds 5,000 square feet, or the building is more than three stories in height, or where the enclosed parking garage is located beneath other groups.

Section 903.7, Fire sprinkler systems, access to control valves, shall be added to state the following:

903.7 Fire sprinkler systems, access to control valves. Where the sprinkler system is designed to serve more than one independent tenant area (for example, a row of mercantile stores), the control valves must be accessible to the Fire Department from a direct exterior entrance, not solely within the controlled space of any one specific tenant.

Section 907.2.1, Group A, shall be amended by deleting the exception.

Section 907.2.2, Group B, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

907.2.2 Group B. A manual fire alarm system shall be installed in Group B occupancies having an occupant load of more than 100 persons or where the building is more than three stories in height.

Section 907.2.3, Group E, shall be amended by deleting the exceptions.

Section 907.2.6.2, Group I-2, shall be amended by deleting the exceptions.

Section 907.10, Mixed Uses, shall be added to state the following:

907.10 Single- and multiple-station smoke detectors, required for mixed uses. Single- or multiple-station smoke detectors shall be installed and maintained in full operating condition in all occupancies in all groups, where a residential use is located above such occupancies.

Section 912.2.2, Existing buildings, shall be amended by adding the following to the last sentence of the section stating "Such signs shall be subject to the approval of the fire code official":

"and shall be in the form of the Upper Moreland Township standard sign, which may be found in the office of the Township Fire Marshal."

Section 1013.1, Where required, shall be deleted in its entirety and amended to state the following:

1013.1 Exit signs and lights, location. All required means of egress shall be indicated with approved signs reading "EXIT," visible from any direction of egress travel, and, where necessary, supplemented by directional signs in the egress access corridors indicating the direction and way of egress. All "EXIT" signs shall be located at exit doors and exit access areas, so as to be readily visible. Sign placement shall be such that any point in the exit access shall not be more than 100 feet from the nearest visible sign. Where "EXIT" signs are required, they shall be placed both above exit doors AND within eight inches of the floor, immediately to the left or right of exit doors.

AA.

Section 1103.5.3, Pyroxylin plastics, shall be amended by the insertion of "Such automatic sprinkler system shall be installed prior to obtaining the required occupancy permit" at the end of the section.