[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Mount Vernon 5-13-1959 as Ch. 96
of the General Ordinances, approved 5-14-1959. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Boilers and other equipment — See Ch. 98.
It is hereby declared that the unnecessary emission of smoke,
soot, cinders, noxious gases, dust or fly ash from buildings using
fuel-oil-burning equipment in the City of Mount Vernon is detrimental
to the health of the inhabitants of the City and their property, and
the same is hereby prohibited. For the purpose of controlling and
reducing atmospheric pollution, it is hereby declared to be the policy
of the City to establish and maintain active and continuing supervision
of combustion processes and of the emission of certain harmful or
objectionable elements into the atmosphere. The necessity for legislative
intervention by the enactment of the provisions of this chapter is
hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination, and this
title shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the above purposes.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to abridge the emergency
powers of the Department of Health or the right of the Department
of Health to engage in any of its necessary or proper activities,
including the enforcement of the Sanitary Code.
As used in this chapter, the following terms are defined as
follows:
The Fire Commissioner of the City of Mount Vernon.
Smoke of a density to or in excess of No. 3 of the Ringelmann
Smoke Chart or the Microringelmann Smoke Chart.
Air- or gasborne solid particles, including fly ash and soot.
Solid particles resulting from combustion or incomplete combustion
of coal, wood or other fuels.
Combustible materials, solid, liquid or gaseous, used primarily
either to kindle or sustain fire or produce heat.
Any furnace, boiler, water heater, oven stove, kiln or other
apparatus using fuel oil.
A chart on file in the office of the Department of Health
and the Fire Department of the City of Mount Vernon, prepared from
the Ringelmann Chart of the United States Bureau of Mines.
Solid particles emitted from a chimney, stack, flue or open
fire as a result of the combustion of fuel or refuse.
Agglomerated particles consisting essentially of carbonaceous
material.
A smokestack, chimney, flue, duct or other conveyor for carrying
products of combustion or incomplete combustion, smoke, dusts or odors
into the open air.
An accepted technical procedure for determining the amount
of solids, smoke, dust or fly ash in the stack gases or atmosphere.
A.
No
person shall cause, suffer or allow to be emitted into the open air
from any building using fuel-oil-burning equipment, smoke the shade
or appearance of which is equal to or darker than No. 2 of the Microringelmann
Chart, except:
(1)
Smoke, the shade or appearance of which is equal to but not darker
than No. 3 of the Microringelmann Chart for more than four continuous
minutes when building a new fire or when breakdown of equipment occurs
such as to make it evident that the emission was not reasonably preventable.
(2)
Smoke, the shade or appearance of which is equal to but not darker
than No. 2 of the Microringelmann Chart for a period or periods aggregating
two minutes in any hour.
B.
When
the Commissioner shall declare a nuisance to exist, it shall be deemed
to have been created, and it may be summarily ordered to be abated
by the Commissioner or his duly authorized representative.
A.
After
any owner, agent, occupant, manager or lessee in charge of any premises
has been previously notified of a violation of this chapter in respect
to the emission of dense smoke, soot, cinders or noxious gases caused
by fuel-oil-burning equipment, the owner, agent, occupant, manager
or lessee in charge of said premises shall be notified to show cause
before the Commissioner on a day certain, not less than 10 days from
the date of notice, why the equipment causing such violations should
not be sealed. The notice herein provided for may be given by mail
directed to the last known address of the party to be notified, or
if said party or his whereabouts is unknown, then by posting a notice
on or near the premises at which the violations have occurred. Upon
said date, the violator may appear and be heard. Upon such hearing,
if the authorized official finds that adequate corrective means and
methods have not been employed to correct the cause of such condition,
then it shall be his duty to seal said equipment until such time of
correction.
B.
The
Commissioner or any person delegated by him may make general and specific
investigations on behalf of the City and may determine when a violation
of this chapter exists. If as a result of any inspection, including
the first, the Commissioner or his duly authorized representative
deems an emergency situation to exist, a violation of this chapter
may be declared and the fuel-oil-burning equipment may be sealed forthwith.
C.
It
shall be unlawful for any person to break a seal of any fuel-oil-burning
equipment that has been duly sealed by an authorized official, unless
permitted by the authorized official in writing.
A.
No
person shall hinder, obstruct, delay, resist, prevent or in any way
interfere with the Commissioner or any individuals to whom his authority
has been duly delegated in the performance of any duty herein enjoined
or refuse to permit such personnel to perform their duty by refusing
them or any of them entrance at reasonable hours to property or premises
containing fuel-oil-burning equipment.
B.
The
Commissioner or his delegated representatives shall observe the general
rules and practices of the person whose property is entered for the
purpose of making inspections, tests and investigations.
A.
Tests.
(1)
Tests by owners or operators. At his discretion, the Commissioner
may require the owner or operator of any fuel-oil-burning equipment
to submit to him a test, performed at the expense of the owner or
operator, of such equipment by a licensed professional engineer or
a qualified chemist or chemical engineer; may require an owner or
operator to submit to him an analysis of the quantity and character
of the matter discharged from a stack, duct, vent or other exhaust
conduit or system, at the expense of the owner or operator, by a qualified
chemist or chemical engineer; may require an owner or operator to
submit to him an analysis of the fuel used in the fuel-oil-burning
equipment, at the expense of the owner or operator, by a qualified
chemist.
B.
Smoke alarms. Oil-burning equipment using residual oil as a fuel and which has been declared a nuisance under § 81-3B shall provide for an approved-type smoke detection and control device commonly known as a "smoke alarm."
[Added 6-24-1964, approved 6-25-1964]
(1)
A device capable of being adjusted to detect the presence of varying
densities of smoke and to cause the operation of audible and visible
signals when producing smoke equivalent to or greater than No. 2 of
the standard smoke chart. The smoke detection and control device shall
be equipped, installed and operated so as to automatically cause the
combustion process being monitored to cease operation after the production
of such smoke for a period in excess of two minutes. This portion
of the smoke detection and control device shall be known as the "automatic
shutoff." The automatic shutoff shall prevent the operation until
the fuel-burning equipment is adjusted to abate illegal emissions
and the smoke detection control device is manually reset.
(2)
The signals produced by a smoke detection and control device to indicate
the production of smoke shall be the sounding of a bell and the illumination
of a red light, each of sufficient intensity and in such location
as to be capable of attracting the attention of the person in charge
or in control of the combustion equipment being monitored. The signals
shall be so installed as to operate during the entire period that
smoke equivalent to or greater than No. 2 of the standard smoke chart
is produced and to continue to operate after the combustion process
may have been halted by the automatic shutoff and until the smoke
detection and control device is manually reset and the combustion
process restored to proper operation.
(3)
Where a smoke detection and control device is required on an installation
consisting of more than one complete combustion unit on a single stack,
the shutoff or shutoffs shall be so designed and installed as to halt
the operation of that unit or units responsible for smoke.
(4)
The automatic shutoff may be replaced by fully automatic combustion
controls so devised and installed as to be actuated by the smoke alarm
in such a manner as to automatically maintain proper operation.
All previous ordinances inconsistent with this chapter are hereby
repealed.
This chapter shall take effect immediately.
