THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234



January 2008

To:   Superintendent of Schools,District Superintendents in Zone 6

From:   David L. Clapp, Fire Safety Unit

Subject:   Annual School Fire Inspection Reports

Section 807-a of Education Law (revised 2006) requires a reinspection of school buildings where the Department is unable to issue an annual Certificate of Occupancy based on the number or severity of violations on the Fire Safety Report submitted to this office.  Any school building that cannot be issued a temporary or Annual Certificate of Occupancy as a result of the initial inspection will be issued a notice indicating that the building will need to be reinspected. The original inspector or an associate from his/her office must complete a reinspection and all violations corrected before we can issue the Annual Certificate of Occupancy. The reinspection procedures do not apply to school buildings in the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, or Yonkers. For additional information and procedures, please see the link below.

The Manual for Fire and Building Safety Inspections in Public and Nonpublic Schools and the Public School Fire Safety Report (including the School Fire Safety Nonconformance Reporting Sheet, p.4) have also been revised and updated to reflect changes in the New York State Fire Code effective January 1, 2008. The changes are minimal, and involve mainly adjustments to referenced sections of the NYS Fire Code.

The new forms will be available on our website at the end of December. Please use the new forms and procedures for all inspections beginning January 1, 2008 and thereafter.  The Manual and Fire Safety Report are not included with this mailing. The Manual and Fire Safety Report are available only on the Facilities Planning website at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/facplan

You will need to provide sufficient copies of the Fire Safety Report to your fire inspector. 

The following items have been changed on the School Fire Safety Nonconformance Reporting Sheet:

• Column 2-Nonconformance – place an “x” in the box to indicate a noncomformance.
• Column 3-Date Corrected- enter the date the nonconformance is corrected.
• Column 4-Date Reinspected- inspector enters the date the building is reinspected and the nonconformance item satisfactorily resolved. (If required).
• Item 09E-1 has been removed from the Nonconformance form. This item is no longer required by NYS Fire Code.
• Items 26 A-D have been removed from the Noncomformance form. It is still necessary to complete these items on page 5 of the Fire Safety Report. Please see the page 15 of the Manual for additional information.
•  Item 27 has been removed as a nonconformance from the form.  The question has been added to the form in the box labeled “Inspector”.
•  Item 25A3 now requires Department approval. See “Department Use Only” box.
• Items 26E4, 26F4, 26G4 & 26H4 have been added to the form.

The enclosed building labels and "Fire Code Biography" included with this mailing are to be used with copies of the annual Fire Safety Report available on our website. Please follow the procedures listed below:

• A label is included with this mailing for each building of record which is owned, leased, or used by your district.  A building is defined as any structure, having walls and roof, which can be secured. Place a mailing label in the address section on each fire safety report.  If you do not receive a label for one or more of your buildings, please call the Fire Safety Unit.

• A "Fire Code Biography" Report is also included with this mailing for each building. This biography reflects building data such as building use, square footage, and services, recorded from   the previous year's reports.  Please examine this biography for accuracy and completeness. Do not make corrections on the enclosed Fire Code Biography Report.  

 Please review the biography report in detail.  If inaccuracies or omissions are found, insert correct data in the appropriate area of Part I of the new Fire Safety Report. Use RED pen or pencil, or RED felt-tip for this purpose.  Please note that the format of this section of the report has been revised. You may need to insert additional information in this section to reflect the change in format. 

Part I-Fire/Life Safety History (p.3) must be completed. Failure to complete this section may result in the denial of a certificate of occupancy. Insert current data regarding fire drills and fire prevention instruction if applicable, and all data relative to any and all fires that may have occurred since the last report. 

Part II "Fire and Life Safety Standards", Parts II A and B - this section previously included in the Fire Safety Report has been moved to Appendix C of the new Manual for Fire and Building Safety Inspections In Public and Nonpublic Schools. Any nonconformance with these standards is recorded on the Public School Fire Safety Non-conformance Reporting Sheet (p.4), which is available on the Facilities Planning website.  

All school district inspections must be performed by a code enforcement official or code compliance technician who has been certified by the State Fire Administrator.  Certification is evidenced by the inspector’s registry number, issued by the Department of State upon completion of the required course of qualification. For additional information, please see the certification page of the document and the article on our website at: 

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/facplan/Newsletter/Newsletter_62.html

• The following documents are available on the Facilities Planning website: 

Manual for Fire and Building Safety Inspections in Public and Nonpublic Schools- this document explains the fire safety inspection process in detail, as well as and other required school inspections.   

Public School Fire Safety Report (Revised 2006) - use this report for inspecting all public school buildings. The Public School Fire Safety Non-Conformance Reporting Sheet (p.4) is also needed to complete the Public School Fire Safety Report.   The Non-Conformance Reporting Sheet should be inserted between pages 3 and 5 of the Fire Safety Report before STAPLING the Report together. 

4.           It is strongly recommended that a district representative accompany the fire inspector during the inspection of buildings in your district. It is also recommended that a district representative and the fire inspector review the Fire Safety Report prior to use to insure a thorough understanding of the form. Additionally, the form should be reviewed by both parties for accuracy and completeness prior to submission to the Fire Safety Unit.

5.           Please note that the Fire Safety Report is only 5 pages long.  You will need to assemble the Fire Safety Report for each building inspected and forward a completed, signed, STAPLED original copy to the Fire Safety Unit.

Reports for Zone 6 are to be submitted to the Department no later than March 1, 2008 as described in Appendix A.  If you have any questions regarding the new procedures, please call the Fire Safety Unit at: (518) 474-4738 or (518) 474-3906.

Enclosures