City Code, ExplainedBetaPardon our dust while we build this out — expect some changes along the way.

This chapter adopts the 2009 International Fire Code (as referenced in the 2009 International Building Code) as the City's official Fire Code, governing fire and explosion safety in the storage, handling, and use of hazardous materials and devices, and in the occupancy of buildings and premises.

Who this affects

It affects anyone storing, handling, or using hazardous substances, materials, or devices in the city, as well as property owners and occupants generally, since it also covers permitting and fees for these activities.

Key rules

• The 2009 International Fire Code, as referenced in the 2009 International Building Code, is adopted in full as the City's Fire Code, including its regulations, provisions, penalties, conditions, and terms.
• Section 101.1 of the adopted Code is amended to insert "City of Pottsville" as the applicable jurisdiction.
• Geographic limits for locations where storage of Class I and Class II liquids in above-ground tanks outside of buildings is prohibited (Section 3404.2.9.6.1) are established at the discretion of the Fire Chief.
• Geographic limits for storage of Class I and Class II liquids in above-ground tanks (Section 3406.2.4.4) are established at the discretion of the Fire Chief.
• Geographic limits for storage of flammable cryogenic fluids in stationary containers (Section 3506.2) are established at the discretion of the Fire Chief.
• Geographic limits restricting storage of liquefied petroleum gas to protect heavily populated or congested areas (Section 3804.2) are established at the discretion of the Fire Chief.
• Ordinance No. 568, the "BOCA National Fire Prevention Code, Tenth Edition, 1996," and any conflicting prior ordinances are repealed.

Penalties

Section 109.3 of the adopted Fire Code is amended to insert "Summary Offense, $1,000, 90"; Section 111.4 is amended to insert "$300, $1,000."

Notable and archaic details

• The chapter's geographic-limit provisions all describe the restricted areas identically as those "in which the storage of explosive materials is prohibited," even though the underlying Fire Code sections concern different substances (flammable liquids, cryogenic fluids, and liquefied petroleum gas), and each is left to the Fire Chief's discretion rather than being mapped to specific locations in the text.