[Adopted 8-11-1988 by Ord. No. 88-5]
A. This article shall provide East Allen Township, Northampton
County, with rules and regulations to improve public safety by promoting the
control of fire hazards; regulating the installation, use and maintenance
of equipment; regulating the use of structures, premises and open areas; providing
for the abatement of fire hazards; establishing the responsibilities and procedures
for code enforcement; and setting forth the standards for compliance and achievement
of these objectives.
B. This code shall be known as “The East Allen Township Fire Prevention Code.” This Code adopts NFPA 1, Fire Prevention Code, of the National Fire Protection Association, and its incorporated standards and codes as published in the National Fire Codes of the National Fire Protection Association and listed in Annex A of the NFPA Fire Prevention Code and being particularly the 1988 edition thereof, save and except those portions such as are hereinafter deleted, modified, or amended by §
87-24 of this article. The same are hereby adopted and incorporated as fully as if set out at length herein.
C. This article and the provisions thereof shall not apply
to one- and/or two-family dwellings, but shall apply to all other buildings
including, but not limited to, apartments, industrial and commercial.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate this article, to permit
or maintain such a violation, to refuse to obey any provision thereof, or
to fail or refuse to comply with any such provision or regulation except as
variation may be allowed by the action of the Fire Prevention Officer in writing.
Proof of such unlawful act or failure shall be deemed prima facie evidence
that such act is that of the owner or other person in control of the premises.
Prosecution or lack thereof of either the owner, occupant, or the person in
charge shall not be deemed to relieve any of the others.
A. The Board of Supervisors of East Allen Township shall
designate an individual (hereinafter referred to as “Township’s
designee”), who shall be responsible for the enforcement of the East
Allen Township Fire Prevention Code. The Township’s designee may detail
qualified members of the Fire Department as inspectors as shall from time
to time be necessary. To assist in the performance of the responsibilities
and duties placed upon the Township’s designee, a Division of Fire Prevention
in the Fire Department of East Allen Township is hereby created.
B. This Division shall operate under the supervision of
the Township’s designee. The Township’s designee shall designate
a fire official of the East Allen Township Fire Department as Fire Prevention
Officer. The Fire Prevention Officer shall be the administrator of the Division
of Fire Prevention. The Fire Prevention Officer shall be responsible for the
direct administration and enforcement of the East Allen Township Fire Prevention
Code as may be set forth by the Township’s designee. The Fire Prevention
Officer shall be appointed on the basis of examination or other method for
determining qualifications. The Township’s designee may also designate
such number of technical inspectors as shall from time to time be authorized
by the East Allen Township Board of Supervisors. Such technical inspectors
shall be selected through an examination to determine their fitness for the
position.
A. It shall be the duty of the officers of the Division
of Fire Prevention to enforce all laws and ordinances of East Allen Township,
covering the following:
(2) The storage, sale and use of combustible, flammable or
explosive materials;
(3) The installation and maintenance of automatic and other
fire alarm systems and fire extinguishing equipment;
(4) The maintenance and regulation of fire escapes;
(5) The means and adequacy of exit in case of fire, from
factories, schools, hotels, lodging houses, asylums, hospitals, churches,
halls, theaters, amphitheaters, and all other places in which numbers of persons
work, live, or congregate, from time to time, for any purpose;
(6) The investigation of the cause, origin, and circumstances
of fires;
(7) The maintenance of fire cause and loss records.
B. They shall have such other powers and perform such other
duties as are set forth in other sections of this article, and as may be conferred
and imposed from time to time by law. The Fire Chief of the East Allen Township
Fire Department may delegate any powers or duties under this article to the
Fire Prevention Officer.
The Township’s designee shall prepare instructions for the Fire
Prevention Officer and the Fire Prevention Officer’s assistants, and
forms for their use in the reports required by this article.
The Division of Fire Prevention shall investigate the cause, origin,
and circumstances of fires occurring in East Allen Township by which property
has been destroyed or damaged and, so far as possible, shall determine whether
the fire is the result of carelessness or design. Such investigations shall
begin immediately upon the occurrence of such a fire. The Fire Prevention
Officer shall take charge immediately of the physical evidence, shall notify
the proper authorities designated by law to pursue the investigation of such
matters, and shall further cooperate with the authorities in the collection
of evidence and in the prosecution of the case. Every fire shall be reported
in writing to the Division of Fire Prevention within seven days after the
occurrence of the same by the Fire Department officer in whose jurisdiction
such a fire has occurred. Such report shall be in such form as shall be prescribed
by the Fire Prevention Officer of the East Allen Township Fire Department,
and shall contain a statement of all facts relating to the cause, origin,
the circumstances of such fire, the extent of the damage thereof, and the
insurance upon such property, and such other information as may be required,
including the injury, death or rescue of persons.
[Amended 10-13-1988 by Ord. No. 88-6]
Prior to the issuance, by the Township of East Allen, of any permits
as may be required by this article or the code adopted pursuant thereto, the
following must be completed:
A. The Fire Prevention Officer or the Fire Prevention Officer’s
assistants shall inspect and approve the receptacles, processes, vehicles,
buildings or storage places to be used for any such purposes.
B. The permit applicant shall deliver to the Fire Prevention
Officer a floor plan drawing of the building which is the subject of said
permit application. For the purposes of this article, the floor plan drawing
shall only be acceptable if it is the approved Pennsylvania Department of
Labor and Industry drawing, or a drawing prepared and sealed by a professional
engineer or architect which includes the location, identity, size and contents
of any permanently installed tanks.
C. The permit applicant shall deliver to the Fire Prevention
Officer the material safety data sheets (MSDS), which MSDS shall be certified
as being those currently in force and shall, thereafter, deliver to the Fire
Prevention Officer any amendments or changes to said MSDS.
The Fire Prevention Officer shall inspect or cause to be inspected all
premises on a periodic basis, and shall make such orders as may be necessary
for the enforcement of the laws and ordinances governing the same and for
safeguarding of life and property from fire.
A. Whenever any inspector, as defined above, shall find
in any building, or upon any premises or other places, combustible or explosive
matter or dangerous accumulations of rubbish or unnecessary accumulation of
waste paper, boxes, shavings, or any highly flammable materials especially
liable to fire, and which is so situated as to endanger property; or shall
find obstructions to or on fire escapes, stairs, passageways, doors or windows,
liable to interfere with the operations of the Fire Department or egress of
occupants in case of fire, the inspector shall order the same to be removed
or remedied, and such order shall forthwith be complied with by the owner
or occupant of such premises or buildings, subject to the appeals procedure
provided for in the East Allen Township Fire Prevention Code.
B. Any owner or occupant failing to comply with such order
within 48 hours after the service of the said order shall be liable to penalties
as hereinafter provided.
C. The service of any such order may be made upon the occupant
of the premises to whom it is directed, either by delivering a copy of same
to such occupant personally, or leaving it with any person in charge of the
premises, or, in case no such person is found upon the premises, by affixing
a copy thereof in a conspicuous place on the door of the entrance of said
premises. Whenever it may be necessary to serve such an order upon the owner
of premises, such order may be served either by delivering to and leaving
with the said person a copy of the said order, or if such owner is absent
from the jurisdiction of the officer making the order, by mailing such copy
by certified mail to the owner’s last known post office address.
The Fire Prevention Officer shall compile and keep a record of fires
and of the facts concerning the same, including injuries, deaths, rescue of
persons, statistics as to the extent of such fires and the damage caused thereby,
and whether such losses were covered by insurance, and if so, in what amount.
Such record shall be made daily from the reports made by the technical inspectors
under the provisions of this article.
The Fire Prevention Officer shall make an annual report of the activities
of the Division of Fire Prevention and shall transmit this report to the Board
of Supervisors of East Allen Township through the Township’s designee.
The report shall contain all proceedings under the East Allen Township Fire
Prevention Code with such statistics as the Township’s designee may
wish to include therein.
The Township’s designee or the Fire Prevention Officer shall also
recommend any amendments to the East Allen Township Fire Prevention Code or
ordinance that shall be desirable.
The provisions of the East Allen Township Fire Prevention Code shall
apply equally to both public and private property, and it shall apply to all
structures and their occupancies, except as otherwise specified.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of the code hereby
adopted; or shall fail to comply therewith; or shall violate or fail to comply
with any order made thereunder; or shall build in violation of any details,
statements, specifications, or plans submitted or approved thereunder; or
shall operate not in accordance with the provisions or any certificate, permit,
or approval issued thereunder, and from which no appeal has been taken; or
who shall fail to comply with such an order as affirmed or modified by the
Fire Prevention Officer or by a court of competent jurisdiction within the
time fixed herein shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before
a District Justice under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, be
guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of not more
than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default of payment thereof, the
defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days.
Each day or portion thereof that such violation continues or is permitted
to continue shall constitute a separate offense, and each section of this
article that is violated shall also constitute a separate offense. The imposition
of a penalty for any violation shall not excuse the violation nor shall the
violation be permitted to continue. All such persons shall be required to
correct or remedy such violations or defects within 48 hours, and when not
otherwise specified, the application of the above penalty shall not be held
to prevent the enforced removal of prohibited conditions.
A Board of Appeals is hereby established consisting of three members
and one alternate member who shall be appointed by the East Allen Township
Board of Supervisors by reason of education, experience and knowledge, and
are deemed to be competent to sit in judgment on matters concerning the East
Allen Township Fire Prevention Code and its enforcement. The members shall
serve for a term of six years, except for the initial appointees who shall
serve as follows: one for a term of two years; one for a term of four years;
and one for a term of six years.
NFPA 1, Fire Prevention Code of the National Fire Protection Association,
is amended and changed in the following respects: delete Section 3-1.3.2,
Operations of Internal Combustion Engines.
The appendixes of NFPA 1, Fire Prevention Code of the National Fire Protection Association, are hereby included as a part of the East Allen Township Fire Prevention Code save and except those portions that are deleted, modified, or amended by §
87-24 of this article. The same are hereby adopted and incorporated as fully as if set out at length herein.
Fees shall be established by resolution of the East Allen Township Board
of Supervisors from time to time, for the permits, certifications, approvals
and other functions performed under this code and shall be payable to East
Allen Township. Such fees shall accompany each application for such permit,
approval, certificate, or other fee-related code provision.
This article shall be enforced in conjunction with all other regulations
of the Township, current and in effect at the time of permit application and
during the permit period defining the standards that shall be met. Compliance
with such regulations shall be considered an inherent part of acceptance by
the Township for the issuance of building and occupancy permits.