PROVIDENCE -- The new fire code approved after The Station nightclub disaster begins to take effect today, though few people will notice any difference until the code is enforced in existing buildings statewide in February.
Starting today, anyone proposing a new building or renovating an existing one will have construction plans reviewed under the new code, which conforms to national standards issued by the National Fire Protection Association, said Tom Coffey, director of the state's Fire Code Board of Appeal and Review.
The fire code approved last spring by the General Assembly targets Feb. 20, 2004 -- the one-year anniversary of The Station fire -- for the widespread enforcement of the new rules.
The new code empowers fire inspectors to write tickets for code violations. State Fire Marshal Irving J. Owens's office is working on a ticketing system, one of the larger administrative challenges brought by the new codes, Owens said yesterday.
A process must be in place to collect the fines, with oversight and accountability. Owens said the ticketing system needs to be tied into the District Court system.
"It will be set up like a motor-vehicle citation," he said.
He hopes to have the citation system in place by Feb. 20, he said.
In the meantime, the fire code board will be preparing recommendations to the General Assembly for removing conflicts and redundancies from the state fire code, Coffey said.
The adoption of the National Fire Protection Association standards in the last legislative session made much of the prior code obsolete, he said. Portions of the old code that cover the administration of fire laws, such as the makeup of the fire marshal's office and the functions of the Fire Board, probably will stay in the code, Coffey said.
"It's more housekeeping at this point," Coffey said. "We want to eliminate the possibility for confusion."
