146 - Egress from apartments.

§ 146. Egress from apartments. 1. There shall be at least two means of  egress  from  every  apartment or suite. Such means shall be remote from  each other.  Except  where  it  opens  into  a  stair  as  permitted  in  subdivision three, one means shall be to a public hall connecting with a  stair,  fire-stair  or fire-tower, not more than fifty feet distant from  such means. In dwellings erected under plans  filed  in  the  department  after   September   first,   nineteen  hundred  fifty-one,  such  stair,  fire-stair or fire-tower shall be enclosed. The other required means  of  egress  shall  open  either directly upon a fire-escape or directly on a  fire-tower balcony or a public vestibule or other public hall connecting  with a stair, fire-stair or fire-tower balcony.    2. Except as hereinafter provided for dwellings two stories or less in  height such balcony, vestibule, hall or stair shall  be  separated  from  the  public  hall or stair on which the first means of egress opens by a  fireproof wall, unpierced unless by an opening equipped with a fireproof  door and assembly with the door self-closing. Such  door  shall  not  be  held  open  by any device whatever. In a dwelling two stories or less in  height, the separating wall may be fire-retarded on both sides  in  lieu  of being fireproof.    3.  In a dwelling three stories or less in height and occupied by four  families or less on each story, and in any section of a class A dwelling  which is two stories or less in height and occupied by four families  or  less  on  each  story,  a  means  of  egress  from an apartment may open  directly into a stair without the intervention of a public hall.