Fire safety debate grows as more states allow single staircases

Fire safety staircase rules change in several US states

Several US states have changed building codes to allow some apartment buildings taller than three storeys to be built with a single staircase, replacing long-standing requirements for at least two staircases in most buildings above that height.

The New York Times reported that proponents say the change can reduce development costs by removing the need for a second stair and reducing the space required for common areas such as hallways between staircases, allowing buildings to be developed on smaller lots.

Stephen Smith, the executive director of the Center for Building in North America, said: “We’re seeing single-stair buildings on what were otherwise unbuildable small lots.”

“Allowing more cities to do this will help meet demand for housing,” Smith said.

Where the code changes have been adopted and studied

The article said Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Texas and Tennessee have approved code changes in the past two years allowing just one stairway, and Washington State is set to join them in July.

California, Hawaii, New York, Minnesota, Oregon and Virginia are conducting studies exploring the same change.

Colorado now allows a single staircase in buildings up to five storeys in Denver and 10 other cities with more than 100,000 residents, and Governor Jared Polis said: “We wanted lower costs, smaller footprints, more natural light.”

“It just allows for much more flexibility,” Polis said.

In Washington State, single staircases will be allowed in buildings up to six storeys, and State Senator Jesse Salomon said: “Single stairway is one significant avenue to promote infill – that’s the motivation.”

Fire service concerns and safety evidence cited in the report

Tom Pitschneider, the fire marshal in Shakopee, Minnesota, said there are “challenges in firefighter response to a single stair.”

“As we’re going up the same way as the residents are trying to escape, we need working space,” Pitschneider said.

“With a single stair, everybody’s working the same space, so you don’t have a way to take people out,” he said.

Alex Horowitz, the director of housing policy at the Pew Charitable Trusts, said design features such as sprinklers and fire-resistant materials have made apartment buildings built after World War II safer.

Horowitz said Pew examined 468 deaths between 2012 and 2024 in apartment buildings in New York City where fires had broken out, with three in buildings with a single staircase, and the study found those deaths were not caused by having fewer available staircases.

“A one-stair building has faster egress times because it has a smaller floor plate,” Horowitz said.

“Everyone is closer to the stair,” he said.

“And there are so many fewer residents to evacuate,” Horowitz added.

Pitschneider said safety concerns become more serious in rural areas where fire response times are longer or where fewer firefighting resources are available.

“The model works in a St. Paul, where they’re running multiple engines and they’re putting 12, 15, 18 firefighters on scene in that first 10 minutes,” Pitschneider said.

“What we’re not comfortable with is that model going to our outstate, smaller cities that are bringing three, four firefighters in that first 10 minutes of the firefight,” he said.