Section 15-127. Auxiliary fire alarm systems

a.  Fire  alarm telegraph
  companies.
    1. Compensation to be  paid  to  city.  All  persons  engaged  in  the
  maintenance and operation of auxiliary fire alarm telegraph systems from
  which  rent,  profit or compensation is derived, and which are connected
  with the fire alarm telegraph system maintained by the city, or who, for
  the benefit of their patrons, are permitted to make any  use  whatsoever
  of  the  service  of  such  fire  alarm  telegraph system shall pay such
  reasonable compensation to the city for  such  privilege  and  for  such
  period  of  time  as  shall  be  fixed  by  the board of estimate on the
  recommendation of the commissioner.
    2. Acquisition by  department.  The  commissioner  is  authorized  and
  empowered  to  extend  the  department's  fire  alarm  telegraph  system
  whenever in his or her judgment it shall be  deemed  desirable,  by  the
  purchase,  lease  or  license  of  the  whole  or a part or parts of the
  appliance, apparatus, equipment, patents, licenses, franchises,  rights,
  contracts  or other property of any kind, of any fire alarm telegraph or
  fire alarm signal company doing business in the city, at a price  to  be
  agreed  upon  with the persons or corporation owning the same, and every
  such corporation is hereby authorized to sell, lease or license the same
  to the city. Such purchase, lease or license shall first be approved  by
  the  board  of  estimate,  and if so approved, shall be made through the
  department of general services.
    b. Private connection with fire alarm telegraph system.
    1. May be required by commissioner. The owners and proprietors of  all
  multiple  dwellings, factories, office buildings, warehouses, stores and
  offices, theatres and music halls, and the authorities or persons having
  charge of all hospitals and asylums, and of the public schools and other
  public buildings, churches and  other  places  where  large  numbers  of
  persons   are  congregated  for  purposes  of  worship,  instruction  or
  amusement, and of all piers, bulkheads, wharves,  pier  sheds,  bulkhead
  sheds  or  other  waterfront  structures,  shall  provide  such means of
  communicating alarms of fire to the department as the  commissioner  may
  prescribe. Any person who shall violate, or refuse, or neglect to comply
  with  this  provision  shall,  upon conviction thereof, be punished by a
  fine of not more than five  hundred  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  not
  exceeding  six  months, or by both; and any such person shall, also, for
  each offense, be subject to the payment of a penalty in the sum  of  two
  hundred  fifty dollars, to be recovered in a civil action brought in the
  name of the commissioner.
    2. Inspection and maintenance. The commissioner shall have  the  power
  to  enter  in  person  or  by  his or her duly authorized employees, the
  buildings or premises which are provided, upon the  application  of  the
  owners  or  agents thereof, or which are directed by the commissioner to
  be provided, with the means of communicating alarms of fire directly  to
  the  department, for the purpose of maintaining, repairing, examining or
  installing the same. The commissioner is authorized to fix  and  collect
  reasonable  charges  for  the  maintenance and equipment of such special
  fire alarm service thus provided, and such moneys when collected by  the
  commissioner shall be paid into the general fund.
    c. Interior fire alarms.
    1.  Automatic  fire  alarms.  In every hotel, lodging house, public or
  private hospital or asylum, department store, and public  school,  there
  shall  be  placed  and  provided,  when required by the commissioner, an
  adequate and reliable electrical or other interior alarm system,  to  be
  approved  by the commissioner, by means of which alarms of fire or other
  danger may be instantly communicated to every portion of  the  building.
  The  fire alarm apparatus and all other appliances placed or kept within

  any of such buildings for the purpose  of  preventing  or  extinguishing
  fires, or for affording means of escape therefrom in case of fire, shall
  be  kept  at  all  times  in good working order and proper condition for
  immediate  use,  and  any  member  of  the uniformed force or authorized
  representative of the department may enter any of such buildings, at any
  time, for the purpose of inspecting such apparatus or appliances.
    2. Building attendants. In every building used or occupied as a hotel,
  lodging house or public or private hospital or asylum,  there  shall  be
  employed  by  the owner or proprietor, or other person having the charge
  or management thereof, one or more building attendants, whose  exclusive
  duty  it shall be to visit every portion of such building at regular and
  frequent intervals, under rules and regulations to be established by the
  commissioner, for the purpose of detecting fire,  or  other  sources  of
  danger,  and  giving  timely  warning  thereof  to  the  inmates  of the
  building. There shall be  provided  a  clock  or  other  device,  to  be
  approved  by  the  commissioner, by means of which the movements of such
  building attendant may be recorded. The commissioner  may,  however,  in
  his  or her discretion, accept an automatic fire alarm system in lieu of
  such building attendants and time detectors.
    3. Diagrams of means of exit. In any of the buildings referred  to  in
  paragraphs  one  and two of this subdivision, there shall be posted such
  cards as the commissioner shall direct upon which  shall  be  printed  a
  diagram  showing the exits, halls, stairways, elevators and fire escapes
  of the building, and, in the halls and passageways, such  signs  as  the
  commissioner shall direct shall be posted indicating the location of the
  stairs and fire escapes.