The Chicago High Rise Ordinance was established in 1975 to ensure that occupants of buildings eighty feet and taller had a reasonable amount of protection from smoke and fire while egressing the building or waiting in place. It is comprised of a number of codes found in different chapters of the Chicago Building Code (CBC). However, the ordinance did not apply to the approximately 1,300 high rise buildings within the city limits built before 1975. After 9/11, the safety of occupants in these ‘grandfathered’, or ‘pre-ordinance’ buildings was revisited and the Chicago Life Safety Ordinance was establish. This ordinance called for previously exempted high rises to install sprinkler systems. Pre-ordinance high rises that are classified as commercial occupancies (Class B) were allowed to install the sprinkler systems in phases, to be completed by 2017. These high rises are generally compliant or meet current requirements. In contrast, for pre-1975 multi-tenant residential high rises, the ordinance compliancy rate barely reaches double digits. How could this happen? Check back soon or contact us to find the reason!
Affiliated Fire Systems has the equipment, expertise and support you need to install a problem free fire alarm and/or emergency voice system. If you have any questions regarding your life safety needs, contact us via our ‘Contact Us’ page on our website, or email me directly at generowe@affiliatedinc.com.
[…] a recap, in our first post on this subject, we defined how the Chicago High Rise Ordinance originated. In our second post, we […]