Int. No. 143
By Council Members Levin, Brannan, Koo, Ayala, Yeger and Lander
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the creation of an emergency ambient air quality monitoring program
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 15 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 15-132 to read as follows:
§ 15-131 Interagency notification requirement for certain fires. The department shall notify the department of environmental protection immediately whenever units are dispatched to (i) any fire in the city that the department designates as a third-alarm or higher fire or (ii) any fire in the city that affects a group H high hazard occupancy as defined in the New York city building code and that the department designates as a second-alarm or higher fire.
§ 2. Subchapter 6 of chapter 1 of title 24 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 24-145.1 to read as follows:
§ 24-145.1 Emergency ambient air quality monitoring program. a. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of health and mental hygiene, shall develop an emergency ambient air quality monitoring program pursuant to which the department shall deploy air contaminant recorders in the vicinity of major commercial and industrial fires as required by this section.
b. Immediately upon being notified of (i) any fire in the city that the fire department designates as a third-alarm or higher fire or (ii) any fire in the city that affects a group H high hazard occupancy as defined in the New York city building code and that the fire department designates as a second-alarm or higher fire, the commissioner shall deploy an air contaminant recorder to a sampling location as close to the fire as is safe and practicable and shall deploy air contaminant recorders to three or more sampling locations downwind from the fire. The fire commissioner, the police commissioner or any other city agency, after consultation with the commissioner, may deploy such recorders in lieu of the department where deployment by such other agency would be more efficient than deployment by the department.
c. The air contaminant recorders deployed pursuant to subdivision b of this section shall measure and record the levels of air pollutants that are hazardous to human health, including, but not limited to, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and asbestos. Where, due to the nature of a material known to have been burned in the fire, the commissioner believes that other hazardous air pollutants may have been released into the air, the commissioner shall also monitor the air for such other pollutants.
d. The commissioner shall continue to monitor air quality near the fire and at downwind locations until the fire has been extinguished and, in the judgment of the commissioner, the site of the fire no longer emits significant levels of air pollutants attributable to the fire.
e. The commissioner shall make available on the department’s website all data obtained pursuant to subdivision c of this section. Such data shall be in a non-proprietary format that permits automated processing.
f. The commissioner, in consultation with the fire commissioner and the commissioner of health and mental hygiene, shall promulgate rules necessary for the implementation of this section.
§ 3. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law; provided, however, that the commissioner of environmental protection, in consultation with the fire commissioner and the commissioner of health and mental hygiene, shall take all actions necessary for its implementation, including the promulgation of rules, before such date.
WCJ (2015)/MMB (2017)
LS #4039, 4040/Int. 933-2015
NEW LS # 753
12/21/17; 11:07 a.m.