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We have always held the opinion that the fifteen day inspection rule found in 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) was applicable only to the inspection of "clean" buildings but not applicable to the inspection of "dirty" buildings contaminated by noxious toxins. One would have to be a lunatic to say otherwise. The Charge of the Fire Brigade clearly illustrated the lunacy of thinking that "dirty" buildings could be inspected without a site specific safety plan, training, haz mat suits, drills, decontamination, etc.

But no haz-mat suits for you
no guidance from FDNY too
How you do it is up to you
risk your lungs and your health
Meet my quota of 2 a month, Bloomberg and Scoppetta said
We'll decontaminate you after your dead
Inspect while we blunder

Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the firefighters knew
Someone had blunder'd?
Bloomberg and Scoppetta scoff:
"Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to inspect and die."
Into the skyscraper of Death
Inspect while we blunder. (click here)

Some closed minded and unreasonable people, however, are strict constructionists.  They say that the fifteen day inspection rule found in 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) does not make any distinction between "clean" and "dirty" buildings so it is applicable to all buildings regardless of whether they are "clean" or "dirty". Fortunately for the three "sidelined" fire officers, we have irrefutable evidence on our side:

1. The first item of irrefutable evidence is the date of the fifteen day inspection rule. We discussed this in the article entitled, The Fifteen Day Rule, (click here).  We traced the fifteen day inspection rule back to 1991.  Having been put on the books at least 10 years before 9/11/2001, it was obvious that the fifteen day inspection rule could not have possibly contemplated the inspection of "dirty" buildings that were created on 9/11/2001 - ten years later. Some anonymous FDNY sources have called it "antiquated" (Click Here)
   
2. The second item of irrefutable evidence is the FDNY's ban on the wearing of PPE during building inspections. We discussed this recently in an article entitled, "FDNY forbids the wearing of P.P.E. during inspections of toxic buildings" (Click Here).  If the fifteen day inspection rule was applicable to "dirty" buildings contaminated with noxious toxins, FDNY would not have banned the wearing of PPE during inspections.  Banning PPE just doesn't make sense unless FDNY only envisioned the inspection of "clean" buildings. You need PPE to inspect toxic buildings. PPE is banned because the inspection of "dirty" buildings contaminated by noxious toxins was never contemplated by the 15 day rule.
   

While we can point to irrefutable evidence, the closed minded and unreasonable people who want to strictly construe 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) to be inflexible and without exception, do not have any evidence to back them up.

Moreover, our opinion that the fifteen day inspection rule found in 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) should not be inflexibly taken at face value is shared by other reasonable people.  The Chief of Operations for FDNY - who is reported to be a good guy and a reasonable man - feels the same way and agrees that there are exceptions to the 15 day rule. 

The number of buildings under construction or demolition is overwhelming the capabilities of FDNY to inspect.  There are just too many buildings under construction or demolition within the City of New York.  To cut down the number of FDNY inspections, a distinction has been made between buildings under construction or demolition that are under 75ft in height and those that are over.  This distinction does not appear in the text of the 15 day rule found in 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here).  It is borrowed from 3 RCNY § 39-01 which is the Rule of the City of New York that deals with Fire Safety Plans.  Buildings over 75ft get inspected every 15 days. Buildings under 75ft get inspected every 30 days.  This is a decrease in the inspection frequency to once a month from twice a month.   This is contrary to RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) yet is a reasonable adjustment given the number of buildings under construction or demolition.  It is just as reasonable an adjustment as not inspecting a "dirty" building contaminated by noxious toxins without the proper site-specific safety plan, PPE, training, decon, etc.  Here is the FDNY memo:

This FDNY memo has further implications for the three "sidelined" fire officers.  Keep in mind that the three were "sidelined" for an alleged non-compliance with 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here).  Here we have the 2nd highest uniformed officer of FDNY directing the entire FDNY not to comply with 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here).  The non-compliance of the three "sidelined" fire officers is puny in comparison to the Chief of Operations job wide direction to violate 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here). By now, FDNY knows that 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) did not apply to the inspection of toxic buildings in general and 130 Liberty Street in particular for a number of reason.  Yet, on its face, 3 RCNY § 11-01 (Click here) requires 15 day inspections to all buildings under demolition and construction including buildings under 75 feet in height.  If the Chief of Operations is not directing his troops to break the law, then we have another exception - a height exception - to the 15 day rule in addition to a toxic building exception.

See the article in the NY Post on 1/13/2007 by Ginger Otis by clicking here.  See the article in the NY times on 1/14/2007 written by John Sullivan entitled Fire Department Alters its Inspection Schedule by clicking here