East Palo Alto Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

The ordinance codified in this chapter shall be known and may be cited as the East Palo Alto fire ordinance. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to the incorporated area of the city served by the Menlo Park fire protection district.

(Prior code § 4-2.101)

This chapter shall be construed and applied to promote its basic purposes and policies, which are:

A. To safeguard to a reasonable degree life and property from the hazards of fire and explosion arising from the storage, handling and use of hazardous substances, materials and devices;

B. To safeguard to a reasonable degree life and property from hazardous conditions arising from the division of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and/or premises.

(Prior code § 4-2.102)

This chapter shall not be construed to hold the city or any of its officers or employees responsible for any damage to persons or property by reason of the approval or disapproval of any equipment or process authorized in this chapter, or for any action in connection with controlling or extinguishing any fire, or in connection with any other official duties.

(Prior code § 4-2.103)

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings:

"Building" means any structure erected for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels or property of any kind.

"Building official" means the supervisor of the building inspection department of the city of East Palo Alto, or his authorized representative.

"Combustible material" means any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or material, natural or man-made, which upon ignition is capable of sustaining combustion.

"Combustible waste material" means all rubbish and refuse that will ignite through contact with flames of ordinary temperatures, including but not limited to magazines, books, trimmings from lawns, trees, gardens, pasteboard boxes, rags, paper, straw, sawdust, packing materials, shavings and boxes.

"City health officer" means the director of health of the city of East Palo Alto or his/her representative.

"Department of fire protection" means that part of the city and state governments with administrative and contractual responsibilities for fire protection within the city of East Palo Alto. It is not the intention of this chapter to establish the district fire marshal as a departmental director.

"Director of public works" means the director of public works of the city of East Palo Alto, or his/her authorized representative.

"Fire appliance" means a fire extinguisher or any other apparatus or equipment provided or installed for use in the event of an emergency.

"Fire hazard" means any thing or act which increases or may cause an increase of the hazard or menace of fire to a degree greater than that customarily recognized as normal by persons in the public service regularly engaged in preventing, suppressing or extinguishing fire; or which may obstruct, delay, hinder or interfere with the operations of fire suppression personnel or equipment or the egress of occupants in the event of fire.

"Fire resistive construction" means those types of construction defined as Type I or Type II fire resistive in the currently adopted edition of the Uniform Building Code.

"Firework" means and includes any combustible or explosive composition, or any substance or combination of substances, or device prepared for the purpose of producing a visible or an audible effect by combustion, explosion, deflagration or detonation, and shall include blank cartridges, toy pistols, toy cannons, toy canes or toy guns in which explosives are used, firecrackers, torpedoes, skyrockets, Roman candles, Daygo bombs, sparklers, or other devices of like construction or any device containing any explosive or flammable compound, or any tablet or other device containing an explosive substance; except that the term "fireworks" shall not include any auto flares, paper caps containing not in excess of an average of twenty-five hundredths of a grain of explosive content per cap, and toy pistols, toy canes, toy guns or other devices for the use of such caps.

"Flammable material" means (1) any material that will readily ignite from common sources of heat including but not limited to flames, cigarettes, heating elements, hot ashes and sparks; (2) any material that will ignite at a temperature of six hundred (600) degrees Fahrenheit or less.

"Liquefied petroleum gas (LP Gas)" means any material which is composed predominantly of the following hydrocarbons, or mixtures of them: propane, propylene, butane (normal butane or isobutane) and butylenes.

"Liquefied petroleum gas equipment" means all containers, apparatus, piping (not including utility distribution piping systems) and equipment pertinent to the storage and handling of liquefied petroleum gas; provided, however, that gas consuming appliances shall not be considered as being liquefied petroleum gas equipment.

"Major land division" means all subdivisions that require a tentative map and a final map under the provisions of the California State Subdivision Map Act.

"Minor land division" means all subdivisions that do not require a tentative map nor a final map under the provisions of the California State Subdivision Map Act.

"Model rocket" means any toy or educational device which weighs not more than five hundred (500) grams, including the engine and any payload, that is propelled by model rocket engines.

"Model rocket engine" means a commercially manufactured, nonreusable rocket propulsion device which is constructed of a nonmetallic casing and solid propellant, wherein all of the ingredients are self-contained so as not to require mixing or handling by the user and which have design and construction characteristics determined by the State Fire Marshal to provide a reasonable degree of safety to the user.

"Noncombustible construction" means those types of construction defined as Type II, one hour or II-N in the currently adopted edition of the Uniform Building Code.

"Ordinary construction" means those types of construction defined as Types III and IV in the currently adopted edition of the Uniform Building Code.

"Person" means any person, firm, corporation or association.

"Places of assembly" means those places "suitable for the gathering together of fifty (50) or more persons for such purposes as deliberation, education, instruction, worship, entertainment, amusement, awaiting transportation, or drinking or dining.

"Ultra hazardous occupancies" means those occupancies defined as Group H Occupancies in the currently adopted edition of the Uniform Building Code.

"Woodframe construction" means those types of construction defined as Type V in the currently adopted edition of the Uniform Building Code.

(Prior code § 4-2.104)