Section 53. Fire-escapes

Every fire-escape erected after April eighteenth,
  nineteen hundred twenty-nine, shall be  located,  arranged,  constructed
  and maintained in accordance with the following provisions:
    1. Access to a fire-escape shall be from a living room or private hall
  in  each  apartment  or  suite of rooms at each story above the entrance
  story, and such access shall not include any window of a stairhall.
    a. Such room or private  hall  shall  be  an  integral  part  of  such
  apartment or suite of rooms and accessible to every room thereof without
  passing through a public hall.
    b.  When  one  or  more  living  rooms  of any apartment are rented to
  boarders or lodgers, every such room shall be directly accessible  to  a
  fire-escape  without  passing  through a public hall, and for separately
  occupied living rooms access to fire-escapes shall be direct  from  such
  rooms  without  passing  through  a  public hall or any other separately
  occupied room, except as may be permitted  for  dormitories  in  section
  sixty-six.
    c.  Access  to  any  fire-escape  shall  not be obstructed by sinks or
  kitchen fixtures or in any other way.  Iron  bars,  grilles,  gates,  or
  other obstructing devices on any window giving access to fire-escapes or
  to  a  required  secondary means of egress shall be unlawful unless such
  devices are of a type approved by the board of appeals and are installed
  and maintained as prescribed by the board; provided, however, that in  a
  city  having  a population of one million or more, such devices shall be
  of a type approved, installed and maintained as prescribed by  the  fire
  commissioner,  or  as previously approved and prescribed by the board of
  standards and appeals of such city, except as otherwise provided by said
  commissioner.
    d. Every such fire-escape shall be accessible to one or more  exterior
  doors  or  windows  opening  from the room, apartment, suite of rooms or
  other space which it serves as means of egress, and such window or  door
  shall be two feet or more in clear width and two feet six inches or more
  in  clear height. The sill of any such window shall be within three feet
  of the floor.
    2. A required fire-escape may be  erected  in  any  of  the  following
  places:
    a. On a wall facing a street or yard;
    b.  In  a  court  of  a  non-fireproof  multiple  dwelling to serve an
  apartment or suite of rooms which does not  contain  any  room  fronting
  upon a street or yard, or in any inner court thirty-five feet or more in
  its  least  horizontal  dimension,  provided  the  fire-escape  does not
  project more than four feet  from  the  wall  of  the  dwelling  and  is
  directly  connected  at  the  bottom  of  such  court  with  a fireproof
  passageway at least three feet wide and seven feet high leading directly
  to a street unless the court itself leads to a street;
    c. In any outer court eighteen feet or more in width and  thirty  feet
  or less in length;
    d.  In  any outer court more than eighteen feet in width the length of
  which does not exceed its width by more than seventy per centum;
    e. In any outer court ten feet or more in width  at  every  point  and
  situated on a lot line;
    f. In any outer court seven feet or more in width at every point which
  is situated on a lot line and extends from a street to a yard;
    g.  In a recess on the front wall of a multiple dwelling, provided the
  recess  does  not  exceed  five  feet  in  depth,  is  used  solely  for
  fire-escape purposes and has seventy-five per centum or more of its area
  open  to the street, and is otherwise unenclosed and open at the top. No
  such recess shall be counted as a part of the  unoccupied  area  of  the

  premises  or  be  construed as a court unless its entire area is open to
  the street.
    3.  No fire-escape may project more than four and one-half feet into a
  public highway from the lot line of the  multiple  dwelling  it  serves.
  Every  part  of  such  fire-escape  shall be at least ten feet above any
  sidewalk directly below.
    4. a. Every fire-escape shall be constructed  of  open  balconies  and
  stairways  of  iron  or  stone  capable of sustaining a load of at least
  eighty pounds per square foot. The use or reuse of old materials or cast
  iron in the construction of fire-escapes shall be unlawful.
    b. Balconies for fire-escapes shall be three feet  or  more  in  clear
  width  except  that  a party-wall balcony as permitted by paragraph f of
  subdivision one of section one hundred eighty-seven may be two  feet  in
  clear width.
    c. Every stairway shall be placed at an angle of sixty degrees or less
  with  flat  open steps at least six inches in width and twenty inches in
  length and with a maximum rise  of  nine  inches.  The  opening  in  any
  balcony for such a stairway shall be at least twenty-one by twenty-eight
  inches.
    5.  a.  There  shall be provided from the lowest balcony a drop ladder
  fifteen inches in width and of sufficient length  to  reach  to  a  safe
  landing  place  beneath.  Such  ladder shall be constructed, located and
  arranged so as to be held in proper position at all  times  and,  unless
  properly  counter-balanced,  shall be placed in guides so that it can be
  easily lowered.
    b. The distance from the lowest balcony to the ground or safe  landing
  place  beneath  shall  be  not  more  than sixteen feet, except that the
  department may permit such lowest balcony to  be  up  to  eighteen  feet
  above a public sidewalk because of structural conditions in any multiple
  dwelling erected before April eighteenth, nineteen hundred twenty-nine.
    c. No drop ladder shall be required where the distance from the lowest
  balcony to a safe landing place beneath is five feet or less.
    6. The balcony on the top story shall be provided with a stairway or a
  gooseneck  ladder  from  such balcony to and above the roof and securely
  fastened thereto, except that  no  such  stairway  or  ladder  shall  be
  required:
    a.  On  multiple dwellings two stories or less in height erected after
  April eighteenth, nineteen hundred twenty-nine; or
    b. Wherever there is a peak roof with a  pitch  in  excess  of  twenty
  degrees;
    c.  When  the fire-escape is on the front of the dwelling, in a recess
  on the front of the dwelling, or on an outer court opening to a street.
    7. Every fire-escape if constructed of  material  subject  to  rusting
  shall  be  painted  with  two or more coats of good paint in contrasting
  colors; in the case of a new fire-escape the first coat before erection,
  and the second coat  after  erection.  Whenever  a  fire-escape  becomes
  rusty,  the  owner  shall  repaint  it with two additional coats of good
  paint.
    8. a. Whenever a non-fireproof multiple dwelling is not provided  with
  sufficient  means  of  egress  in case of fire, the department may order
  such additional fire-escapes or balconies as  in  its  judgment  may  be
  deemed necessary.
    b.  The  owner  of  a  multiple dwelling shall keep and maintain every
  fire-escape thereon in good order and repair.
    c. No person shall at any time  place  any  encumbrance  of  any  kind
  before  or  upon  any  fire-escape, or place or keep a cover of any kind
  over the stairway opening in a balcony of such fire-escape. An  occupant
  or  tenant  of  a  multiple  dwelling who shall violate or assist in the

  violation of the provisions of this  paragraph  shall  be  guilty  of  a
  misdemeanor punishable as provided in section three hundred four.
    9. No fire-escape shall be removed from or constructed on any existing
  multiple dwelling without permission from the department. No fire-escape
  shall  be  removed  from  any  apartment  without due precaution against
  leaving occupants of such apartment without adequate means of egress  in
  case  of  fire. A wire, chain cable, vertical ladder or rope fire-escape
  is an unlawful means of egress. Every such fire-escape, if required as a
  means  of  egress,  shall  be  removed  and  replaced  by  a  system  of
  fire-escapes constructed and arranged as provided in this section.
    10.  The  department  shall  have  the  power  to  make  supplementary
  regulations relating to fire-escapes.