Advertisement

Decision Allowing Child-Care Facilities Above 2nd Floor Hit

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Mayor Tom Bradley and Fire Chief Donald Manning Thursday denounced a decision by the state fire marshal’s office to permit child-care facilities to operate above the second stories of buildings.

Saying the decision could put children in “real danger,” Bradley slowly led a group of preschoolers down a flight of stairs at City Hall.

“You can imagine what it would be like trying to lead a group of youngsters down seven flights of stairs to get them outside,” Bradley said. “At the same time adults might be trying to escape from that building, running pell-mell down that stairwell. The youngsters trying to make their way out would be at their mercy.”

Advertisement

The fire marshal’s decision, which took effect Sept. 5, is an emergency regulation that will remain in effect for 120 days, during which public hearings will be held on the matter.

Manning said he knows of no center operating in Los Angeles at a level higher than the second floor.

The regulation permits child-care facilities on floors as high as 75 feet from ground level--about the sixth or seventh story--as long as certain requirements are met. Those include automatic sprinklers, smoke detectors, fire alarms and an exit stairwell. The old regulation permitted centers only as high as the second floors of certain types of structures that met specific fire code requirements.

Bradley said the decision reverses a “long-standing pattern” of setting standards that ensure safety for children in day care centers. He complained that neither the public nor Los Angeles fire officials were consulted before the regulation was imposed.

“I’m perplexed,” Bradley said. “Quite frankly, I don’t know the reason for it.”

Joan Jennings, deputy director of the fire marshal’s office, said Thursday the regulation was a response to the day care shortage, which is especially acute in high-density areas where high-rise buildings generally are located.

The city of Sacramento had petitioned for the change because of a high-rise project under construction there, she said.

Advertisement

If Los Angeles or other cities find the regulation inadequate, Jennings said, “they can adopt more stringent ones.”

However, Manning said Thursday the city may be blocked from passing its own ordinance on the matter because of a recent opinion by the state attorney general that says that municipalities may not impose fire codes more stringent than those imposed by the state. That same opinion has undermined a Los Angeles ordinance passed last summer banning the use of wood roof shingles. That ordinance is being challenged in court.

But Jennings said Thursday the opinion applies only to residential buildings. “And it is only an opinion,” she said.

Advertisement