04/29/2003

These are the national fire code changes that will soon be considered by the Standards Council of the National Fire Protection Association, the Quincy, Mass.-based organization that studies fires and adopts model national fire codes:

Prohibit festival seating in any building unless a special "life safety evaluation" has been performed to ensure that there are adequate emergency evacuation plans and other safety features. The evaluations are now required only for assemblies of more than 1,000.

Require specially trained "crowd managers" wherever occupancy exceeds 250. The limit now is 1,000. (Churches with crowds under 2,000 are exempt.)

Mandate fire sprinklers for clubs with live entertainment, dance halls, discotheques and popular-music halls with occupancy loads of more than 300. Currently, sprinklers are required when occupancy exceeds 1,000.

A second proposal requires sprinklers for all new places where people assemble for entertainment, with no exemptions for small occupancies.

Require that sprinklers be installed retroactively to all "special assembly buildings" including bars, nightclubs, cabarets, clubs, banquet halls, restaurants and any other place where there is entertainment and consumption of alcohol. There would be no exemptions for small occupancy. Also, building owners would be required to inspect exits every day the building is open to the public.

Require portable fire extinguishers to be available in all places of assembly.

Require owners of buildings to apply for a permit to use pyrotechnics and require pyrotechnic operators to ensure that a permit has been obtained.