Fire escape inspection & repair

Our fire escape (home built 1930) is long overdue for scraping, painting, repair, reinforcing and so on. (https://i.imgur.com/YO5p3xr.jpg) Don’t plan to rely on it for emergencies but it’s the only way to the roof right now. Possible issue is that it’s also one half of the fire escape for the adjoining rowhouse.

Is there any risk of putting our neighbor in legal/financial jeopardy with having it inspected? (Is fire escape inspection still a thing?) Would the whole thing need to be fixed up to be or can we just do our half?

RevWaldo

in General Discussion 1 year and 10 months ago

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mozeeatupu | 1 year and 9 months ago

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Fire escape has to be a means to an egress and those aren’t. A roof is never an egress.

Guest User | 1 year and 9 months ago

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Do you want to ensure the structure is compliant with required egress concerns? If so, then you might hire NY Fire Consultants.
do you simply want to ensure the structure is safe for a person to walk on? If so, maybe hire a structural engineer to assess and recommend repairs.
I often hire Hurikane Ironworks (347) 299-1127 to perform repairs and provide recommendations for old fire escapes when we see something obvious like a loose or missing ladder rung, stair tread, railing, etc.

RevWaldo | 1 year and 10 months ago

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Never thought of it in those terms. Would assume to qualify as a balcony you’d access it though a door, and these are accessible only by windows. Definitely think the intent is to give to a place to hang out until the firefighters put the fire out. Or climb onto the roof and cross to the adjacent buildings, which have ladders which (in theory anyway) let you climb down to the ground.

justinromeu26 | 1 year and 10 months ago

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is that a fire escape or a metal balcony?