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Labor Law § 274 · Title 3. Fire Hazard

Fire-escapes erected before October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 274. Fire-escapes erected before October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen. All outside fire-escapes erected before October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and serving as required exits under the provisions of section two hundred and seventy-one shall conform to the following requirements:

1. There shall be balconies on each floor of the building connected with stairways placed at an angle of not more than sixty degrees.

2. A stairway shall lead from the top floor balcony to the roof, except when the fire-escapes are erected on the front of the building.

3. A stairway not less than twenty-two inches wide shall lead from the lowest balcony to a safe landing place beneath, which stairway shall remain down permanently or swing up and down by counterbalancing weights.

4. A safe and unobstructed exit shall be provided to the street from the foot of such fire-escapes as required in subdivision nine of section two hundred and seventy-three.

5. Steps shall connect the sill of every opening leading to the fire-escapes with the floor wherever such sill is more than three feet above the floor level.

6. All openings leading to the fire-escapes shall be provided with fireproof windows or fire doors.

7. All windows opening upon the course of the fire-escape shall be fireproof windows.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/LAB274
Text hash
sha256 03f7eb178da4d7bb22f73b2ed5a1de9c6476ed834c74f47779534f1419320dc5
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.