California FIRE Code "Bars on windows"
Covered under Assembly Bill AB 3131, AB 3026, Senate Bill SB1405 and
Health & Safety Code 13113.9. & 13114.2
below is one of these Laws, other similar bar "laws" are in the
FIRE CODE & Building Code.
In short, ALL windows need safety "release"
if on any building or home in California
CALIFORNIA CODES
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 13100-13135
13113.9. (a) For the purposes of this section:
(1) "Burglar bars" are security
bars located on the inside or
outside of a door or window of a residential dwelling.
(2) "Residential dwelling" means a house, apartment, motel, hotel,
or other type of residential dwelling subject to the State Housing
Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910) of Division 13) and a
manufactured home, mobilehome, and multiunit manufactured housing as
defined in the Mobilehome-Manufactured Housing Act of 1980 (Part 2
(commencing with Section 18000) of Division 13).
(b) On or before July 1, 1998, the State Fire Marshal shall
develop and adopt regulations for the labeling and packaging of
burglar bars addressing the requirements in the California
Building
Standards Code intended to promote safety in
the event of a fire.
For this purpose, the regulations shall include specification of the
language to be printed on the packaging, the location of the language
on the packaging, and the height and stroke of the print type to be
utilized. The regulations shall direct the consumer or installer to
contact the local fire department or local building official to
determine whether the city or county requires that the burglar bars
have a release mechanism on the outside for use by the fire
department in the event of a fire emergency.
(c) Burglar bars shall not be sold in California
at wholesale or
retail unless the burglar bars are either labeled or their
packaging
contains the warning information specified in the regulations adopted
pursuant to subdivision (b).
(d) Any contractor or installer of burglar bars
shall provide the
owner of the residential dwelling a copy of the warning information
required pursuant to subdivision (b) prior to installing burglar
bars.
(e) No person shall install
unopenable burglar bars on a
residential dwelling (1) where the California Building Standards
Code
requires openable burglar bars for emergency escape or rescue,
or
(2) on mobilehomes, manufactured homes, or multiunit manufactured
housing unless at least one window or door to the exterior in each
bedroom is openable for emergency escape or rescue.
our normal verbiage on report:
THE BARS ON THIS HOME DO NOT COMPLY WITH CURRENT CALIFORNIA FIRE CODE,
BUILDING CODE & HEALTH & SAFETY CODE. PASSED BY STATE LAW IN 1998, ALL BARS ON
ANY HOME NEED TO BE UPDATED TO NEW STANDARDS BY 2002, which requires all bars to
have quick release approved by the State Fire Marshall, have tags on each bar to
show comply with state Fire Code test, and instruction of operations at each
window for release.
This home has none of these item, you may elect to remove all bars or have
them re-fitted with new quick release and new bars that comply with State Fire
Code.
The original install it was required to have a building permit for such
install, seek this building permit for contractors statement of this install was
to code at the time of install, however new state law in 1998 had a 4 year grace
period for such install to comply with new codes by 2002. "NO HOME SHALL
HAVE AN UN-OPENABLE BURGLAR BARS ON A RESIDENTIAL DWELLING" California
Health & Safety Code 13113.9
