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S&B - Questions and Answers about SPS 314, the Wisconsin Fire Prevention Code
Questions Select the code section or scroll down to view the answer. SPS 314.01 (1) Which residential adult-care facilities are regulated by SPS 314, and which building code criteria generally apply to these facilities? (March 27, 2009; revised August 10, 2009, revised October, 2011) SPS 314.01 (2) Does SPS 314 address carbon monoxide alarms? (September, 2011) SPS 3 14.01 (2) (a) 2. Which requirements in NFPA 1 are design requirements that apply to public buildings or places of employment, and therefore are not included as part of SPS 314, Fire Prevention Code? (September 21, 2009) SPS 3 14.01 (11) (b) Does SPS 314 require fire prevention inspections for a public or private day care center for 8 or fewer children that is not in a one- or 2-family dwelling? (June 3, 2009) SPS 3 14.01 (11) (b) Does the Department of Health Services (DHS) require all community-based residential facilities (CBRFs) to have annual fire prevention inspections? (May 27, 2009) SPS 3 14.01 (11) (b) and 14.01 (1) (c) 6. Does SPS 314 require fire prevention inspections for a public or private day care center for 8 or fewer children in a building that was constructed as a single-family dwelling but which is no longer used as a dwelling? Similarly, are these inspections required where one or both of the dwelling units in a 2-family dwelling have been converted to such a center, and the daycare licensee or their agent does not reside in any remaining dwelling unit? (September 14, 2010) SPS 3 14.01 (11) (b) How do the fire prevention inspections that are required for child-care facilities in SPS 314, Fire Prevention Code, correspond with state Department of Children and Families requirements and practices? (May 12, 2009) SPS 3 14.01 (11) (b) 5. s. Fire prevention inspections for seasonal or periodic occupancies can be reduced to once a year if an interior inspection is conducted during the occupancy period. Is there a maximum length of time beyond which these seasonal or periodic occupancies become year-round occupancies that are subject instead to the every-6-months inspection frequency in SPS 314.01(11)(b)3? (December 5, 2008) NFPA 1 section 3.2.2. Who is the “authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)” and who is the “governing authority,” as those two terms are used in NFPA 1? (January 12, 2009) Questions and Answers SPS 314.01(1) Which residential adult-care facilities are regulated by SPS 314, and which building code criteria generally apply to these facilities? (October 7, 2011) See PDF file of answer. SPS 3 14.01(2) Does SPS 314 address carbon monoxide alarms? (September, 2011) Answer: No. Although SPS 314.01(1)(a)2 applies SPS 314 to the inspection, testing and maintenance of fire safety features in public buildings and places of employment, neither the text in SPS 314 nor NFPA 1 (as adopted in SPS 314) addresses carbon monoxide alarms. Requirements for carbon monoxide alarms are included in SPS 362.1200 and 66.0500, at SPS 361-366, as part of the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code. Those requirements address installation and maintenance of these alarms in both new and existing buildings, including any previously constructed building that has been converted to a CBRF for fewer than 20 residents. SPS 3 14.01(2)(a)2 Which requirements in NFPA 1 are design requirements that apply to public buildings or places of employment, and therefore are not included as part of SPS 314, Fire Prevention Code? (September 21, 2009) Answer: The NFPA 1 design requirements, essentially, are any requirements that a designer would otherwise need to follow when specifying the permanent physical characteristics of the building. These include the materials of construction, structural members, fire-resistance and fire protection systems, means of egress and accessibility, energy efficiency, electrical systems, plumbing and other mechanical systems. The Department’s requirements for design of public buildings and places of employment are contained in the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code, SPS 360 to 366, and in several other related building-component codes, such as the electrical code, SPS 316. SPS 360 to 366 largely consist of design codes published by the International Code Council, such as the International Building Code. During the construction process, local and department inspectors look for compliance with many of these design requirements. Also during the construction process, some of the requirements in SPS 314 begin to apply, such as the safeguards in NFPA 1 chapter 16 for fire-safety during construction. Local fire inspectors and department inspectors should look for compliance with these requirements as well. After this construction and building inspection process is completed, the use, operation and maintenance requirements of SPS 314 begin to apply, and the semiannual fire prevention inspections that are required in Comm 14 begin to occur. During these fire inspections, fire inspectors may encounter alterations to a building or a building component, such as for a change of occupancy or use, that have not been approved, or inspected by a building inspector. Fire inspectors may also encounter changes of use that have occurred without any alterations to the building, including alterations necessary for complying with Comm 60 to 66 or the related building-component codes. Where either of these types of encounters occur, fire inspectors can be effective initiators for achieving compliance with any unmet change-of-use requirements in the building codes, possibly through referrals to local building inspectors or department staff. Fire inspectors can also encounter a wide variety of circumstances in the broad age range of the buildings they inspect. NFPA 1, along with the standards it includes by reference, has a wide variety of requirements that may apply to those circumstances, along with some requirements that do not because they are design requirements. For example, the NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code and the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, which are both referenced in NFPA 1, consist primarily of design requirements. Wherever uncertainty arises about whether a particular NFPA 1 requirement is a design requirement, fire inspectors are encouraged to ask local building inspectors or department staff, such as fire prevention coordinators or building inspectors, for help in interpreting the building codes. The following example is intended to provide guidance for determining which NFPA 1 requirements are not design requirements, and therefore are included as part of SPS 314. (Further clarification and examples to be added as they become available.) Example. Hotel destroyed by fire during construction. 
In April 2009, a three-alarm fire during construction of this hotel in Milford, Delaware, caused about $1 million in damage and a total loss of the building. If this construction had occurred in Wisconsin, the following provisions of NFPA 1 would have applied to this construction because they are not design requirements:
SPS 3 14.01(11)(b) Does SPS 314 require fire prevention inspections for a public or private day care center for 8 or fewer children that is not in a one- or 2-family dwelling? (June 3, 2009) Answer: Yes. SPS 314.01(11)(b) states "The chief of the fire department shall be responsible for having all public buildings and places of employment within the territory of the fire department inspected for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any conditions liable to cause fire or any violations of any law or ordinance relating to fire hazards or to the prevention of fires." These day care centers are not excluded from the definitions of public building and place of employment that are established in sections 101.01 (11) and (12) of the Statutes and referenced in SPS 314.01(1)(a) to (d). SPS 3 14.01(11)(b) Does the Department of Health Services (DHS) require all community-based residential facilities (CBRFs) to have annual fire prevention inspections? (May 27, 2009) Answer: Yes. Section DHS 83.47 (3), which became effective on April 1, 2009, reads as follows: “The CBRF shall arrange for an annual inspection by the local fire authority or certified fire inspector and shall retain fire inspection reports for 2 years.” SPS 314.01(11)(b)3 requires conducting fire prevention inspections “at least once in each non-overlapping 6-month period per calendar year, or more often if ordered by the fire chief, in all territory served by the fire department.” In practice, these inspections occur once in the first half of the year and once in the second half; however, they may not be precisely 6 months apart. There are exceptions in SPS 314.01(11)(b) that permit less frequent fire inspections, provided the interval between those inspections does not exceed 15 months. In most fire departments, staffing availability dictates the precise scheduling of fire inspections. DHS surveyors are fairly flexible on not having fire prevention inspections dated precisely 365 days apart. Consequently, the inspections that are performed under SPS 314.01(11)(b), which include inspections of all facilities with 5 or more adult-care residents, should satisfy the DHS inspection requirement. However, the functional responsibility to ensure compliance with chapter DHS 83 lies with the licensed facility instead of the fire department. For example, if a fire department does not conduct a fire inspection in a manner that meets the facility’s needs, the facility would need to have an independent, third party perform the service. Bill Lauzon is the DHS statewide contact for CBRFs, and can assist local fire departments if questions arise about corresponding directives from DHS staff, or about other DHS requirements for these facilities. He can be contacted by e-mail at bill.lauzon@wisconsin.gov or by telephone at 414-550-5864. SPS 3 14.01(11)(b) and 314.01(1)(c)6 Does SPS 314 require fire prevention inspections for a public or private day care center for 8 or fewer children in a building that was constructed as a single-family dwelling but which is no longer used as a dwelling? Similarly, are these inspections required where one or both of the dwelling units in a 2-family dwelling have been converted to such a center, and the daycare licensee or their agent does not reside in any remaining dwelling unit?
Answer:
Also note that under section 101.61 (1) of the Statutes, " 'dwelling unit' means a structure or that part of a structure which is used or intended to be used as a home, residence or sleeping place by one person or by 2 or more persons maintaining a common household, to the exclusion of all others;" and " 'dwelling' means any building that contains one or 2 dwelling units." A building that was constructed as a one- or 2-family dwelling but which has been converted to one of the uses addressed in the above two questions may have been converted to this type of public building without complying with the applicable requirements in SPS 361 to 636. Obtaining this compliance may involve enforcement actions by the Department’s Commercial Building Program staff or Fire Prevention Program staff, or by a delegated local building inspection department. Obtaining this compliance may also occur in coordination with the licensure activities that are performed for these centers by the Department of Children and Families. This licensure is addressed in that Department's DCF 250, which defines a "family child care center" as being "a facility where a person provides care and supervision for less than 24 hours a day for at least 4 and not more than 8 children who are not related to the provider." For further information about coordinating fire prevention or building-code deficiencies with the DCF licensure, see the following Q&A. SPS 3 14.01(11)(b) How do the fire prevention inspections that are required for child-care facilities in SPS 314 correspond with Department of Children and Families (DCF) requirements and practices? (May 12, 2009) Answer: DCF maintains a listing by county of licensed child-care facilities at county directories. Fire departments can use this directory to look for existing licensed facilities. This licensure by DCF is required where 4 or more children are in care that receives state or federal funding. (Certification by a county is required where 3 or fewer children are in such care.) Fire departments can expect to receive a copy of a DCF letter of license transmittal whenever a provider receives a license to operate a child care center, so fire departments can be aware of newly-licensed facilities. A directory, listed by county, of the DCF regional licensing offices is available at regional licensing offices. If substantial deficiencies are found during a fire prevention inspection at a licensed child-care facility, the fire department can report its findings to the regional licensing office and receive help in achieving correction of the deficiencies. The optional owner’s report form and instructional materials that DCF distributes to DCF staff and owners includes references to retaining and reviewing maintenance records for fire alarm systems and fire sprinkler systems. DCF also publishes a commentary manual for child-care facilities. The manual is expected to explain that fire departments generally conduct fire prevention inspections at least once in each non-overlapping, 6-month period per calendar year (unless a different frequency is established in a first class city, or by a local ordinance, or by a Department of Safety and Professional Services special order). Also, the manual will explain that under SPS 314 these inspections are not required for a one- or two-family dwelling which functions as (1) a foster home for 4 or fewer children, except up to 6 are permitted for siblings; or (2) a treatment foster home, for 4 or fewer children; or (3) a group home, a residential care center for children and youth, or a public or private day care center, for 8 or fewer children. Any request for a fire inspection that is not consistent with the inspections required under SPS 314 can be forwarded to Anne Carmody at 608-267-9761 or at anne.carmody@wi.gov. More information about the DCF administrative rules and commentary for child care facilities is available at http://dcf.wi.gov/childrenresidential/Rules.HTM and http://dcf.wi.gov/childcare/licensed/Rules.HTM. SPS 3 14.01(11)(b)5s Fire prevention inspections for seasonal or periodic occupancies can be reduced to once a year if an interior inspection is conducted during the occupancy period. Is there a maximum length of time beyond which these seasonal or periodic occupancies become year-round occupancies that are subject instead to the every-6-months inspection frequency in SPS 314.01(11)(b)3? (December 5, 2008)
Periodic occupancies also occur less extensively than on a year-round basis. They differ from seasonal occupancies, however, by occurring more intermittently, or repeatedly from time to time during the calendar year. An office building that is closed during weekends and open during weekdays throughout the year is not a periodic occupancy.
Because of statutory restraints, the Department’s ultimate authority does not extend to fire chiefs who are recognized in sSPS 314.01(11)(a) as being authorized deputies of the Department. SPS 314 and section 101.14(1)(b) of the Wisconsin Statutes authorize these deputies to exercise the Department’s authority for entering buildings and performing fire prevention inspections; however, section 101.14(2)(a) of the statutes makes these deputies subordinate to the Department by specifying that the Department has a right “to relieve any such chief from duties as such deputy for cause.”
Local governing authorities that want to adopt any of the annexes published with NFPA 1 should specifically identify them in a local ordinance. NFPA 1 Annex C contains a sample local ordinance for adopting NFPA 1 and any additions or other changes. Purchase codes Wisconsin Administrative Codes. You can purchase paper copies of the Wisconsin Administrative Codes from state Document Sales, 608-266-3358, or, for credit card purchases, 800-362-7253. Wisconsin Fire Prevention Code. Electronic copies of the Wisconsin Fire Prevention Code are available on the Legislative Reference Bureau's web site. National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) publications. NFPA publications can be purchased from the National Fire Protection Association www.nfpa.org, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269-9101, 617-770-3000. To order the latest National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) codes and standards including NEC, NFPA 101, NFPA 13, NFPA 72, NFPA 70E and more, visit the NFPACatalog. County Web sites || City/Town/Village Web sites || State Portal || Licensing and Permitting || Build Your Business The Department of Safety and Professional Services Safety and Buildings Division is an equal opportunity service provider and employer. If you need assistance to access services or need material in an alternate format, please contact us at 608-266-3151. |
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