A new law has been put into effect, affecting more than a million apartment buildings throughout New York City and it is important that building managers and owners pay attention to it so as to avoid FDNY violations.

Under the new FDNY local rule 3 RCNY §505-01/02 “Apartment and Guest Room Identification and Directional Markings and Signs,” door numbers or letters marking the units, low-mounted door numbers, low-mounted stair exit signs and hallway corridor directional signs are required for R-1 and R-2 apartment buildings with over eight apartment units on a single level.

This will help emergency workers in finding apartments during various emergencies, such as medical or fires. It is required that these signs are in visible locations on every floor, near all the entrances to the floor and on every place where two corridors intersect. It should also have directional arrows with numbers/letters of the units to help locate each dwelling unit. However, these signs will not be necessary if all the dwelling units are in the same direction from the stairs or elevator entrance.

Under the second new rule, 3 RCNY §505-02 “Apartment, Guest Room and Stairwell Fire Emergency Markings” apartment entrance doors require new low-mounted marking, which also have emergency markings. This will aid the firefighters in their operations and increase safety for the firefighters as well as the residents.

These new emergency markings are required to ensure that the firefighters are able to read unit numbers in a smoke-filled hallway where it is difficult to read eye-level apartment numbers.

There are special requirements for multi-floor dwellings according to the FD rule 3 RCNY 505-02(e), they are all supposed to have unit entrance door fire emergency markings regardless of how many units there are on a single floor.

This 3 RCNY §505-02 fire emergency marking also helps identify combined units, by marking the primary entrance with a star and marking the secondary entrance of the two combined apartments  with a triangle.

Stairwell doors also come under the RCNY §505-02. They should also be branded with a marking that is less than twelve inches above the floor.

The compliance deadline of this law for single-floor apartments is March 30, 2018. Remember , if you do run have a problem , contact a FDNY Violations Defense Lawyer like the Wright Law Firm.