Appeal 32310

2022 OSSC §403.6.1

In buildings with an occupied floor more than 120 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access, fire service access elevators shall be provided in accordance with Section 3007.

The proposal is to omit fire service access elevators (FSAE) since all occupied floors are less than 120 feet above the primary point of fire department access on Level 9.

The primary occupied structure (Levels 7 – 11) is only five stories tall. Due to the severely sloped site, the lowest level of fire department access is provided from the North on Level 3 while the highest level of fire department access is provided from the South on Level 9 (see Attachment A, Sheet A3.11). Both levels provide direct entry from the adjacent road.

As confirmed with the Portland Fire & Rescue, the primary access to the building will be the Level 9 entrance along SW US Veterans Hospital Road. This entrance is in the SW corner of the building. Elevators are provided in the center of the building and in the NE portion of the building (see Attachment A, Sheet A2.09).

The proposed design is to omit requirements for FSAE design within the building. The elevator hoistways will both be protected by lobbies meeting the applicable hoistway protection provisions of OSSC §3006.3 Item 2. Equivalent protection is being provided by Portland Fire & Rescue verified use of the Level 9 entrance for firefighter access to the building with the elevators in the core of the building being provided with standby power and firefighter operation controls.

The site of the proposed hospital has unique topography that is not anticipated by the code. The FSAE requirements are based on the distance between the lowest level of fire department access and the highest occupied floor exceeding 120’. In this case, the lowest level of fire department access is 128’ from the highest occupied floor. For this building, however, the primary level of fire department access is the higher access point which is only 30’ from the highest and lowest occupied floor (levels 4-6 are not built, but only correspond to existing building floor labels).

The ICC Code and Commentary provided for §403.6.1 clarifies that the intent of requiring FSAE in tall buildings is to allow trained firefighters to reach upper levels of a building within a reasonable amount of time. In this case, an equivalent level of protection is provided by having a higher level of fire department access on Level 9 which also has direct access to grade and provisions for multiple fire department vehicles off the street. From Level 9, the building has only 2 stories below and 2 stories above. Elevators are not required to provide access in a reasonable amount of time based on the code commentary.

Additionally, the project team confirmed with the Portland Fire & Rescue (PFR) that they would use the core elevators to access other floors, not elevators 5 and 6. These elevators would be provided with standby power and controls that would allow firefighter use in emergency conditions. The remoteness of the Elevators 5 and 6 from the Level 9 entry point means that PFR would not likely use them as staging areas or to access other floors. Elevators 5 and 6 are the only elevators in the building which also serve Level 3, but these would not be needed for access per the Portland Fire & Rescue.

Though FSAE design requirements will be omitted, the hoistway opening protection required of elevators in high-rise buildings will still be provided in accordance with OSSC §3006.2 Item 5 and §3006.3 Item 2. Because of the remoteness from the point of fire department access, the elevators are not likely to be used as FSAE in a fire event. Access from the entry door on Level 9 to the central elevators will be provided with smoke partitions per requirements of OSSC Section 407 for I-2 occupancy. These corridors are 8’ wide. The fire department access from Level 9 provides an equivalent level of protection to the prescriptive code requirement.

2022 OSSC §403.4.3, §403.3.4

A high-rise building shall be equipped with automatic standpipes per Section 905.3.1 and NFPA 14. Fire pumps shall be located in rooms protected in accordance with Section 913.2.1.

The request is to provide a wet manual standpipe system and additional Fire Department Connection (FDC) to provide the required flow rate and pressure in lieu of an automatic standpipe system.

The building configuration is on a steeply sloped site with the first floor (designated Level 3) being the main lobby and lowest level of fire department access along Campus Drive. Level 4 through Level 6 are unoccupied elevator and stair shaft only. Primary firefighter access to the building is supported at Level 9 by a dedicated fire lane south of the primary structure (Levels 7 – 11) at US Veterans Hospital Road. The SW Stair (Stair 2) serves Levels 7 – 11 which has a wet manual standpipe system complying with Section 905.3 (see Appeal 31845, item 2).

The proposed design is to provide a wet manual standpipe system at NE Stair 1 that is connected to the standpipe in the SW stair, to the private water main on Campus Drive, and to the private water main in SW Veterans Drive. Fire department connections (FDCs) are located on the south side on SW Veterans Drive and on the north side on Campus Drive to support the manual standpipe because the water supply at Campus Drive is inadequate to supply both the fire sprinkler and automatic standpipe demand.

NFPA 14 requires standpipes in enclosed stairs over 75 feet high to be automatic standpipes. Equivalent protection is provided by a wet manual standpipe system at the NE stair which serves the 6-story building. The intent of providing automatic standpipes in high-rise buildings is to ensure adequate water flow and pressure to the active sprinkler heads and standpipes needed to fight a fire far above the primary water supply.

The flow rate and pressure required by NFPA 14 can be provided by the fire department through the fire department connection to ensure appropriate pressure is also provided for firefighting activities. Level 9 is also provided with required flow and pressure from US Veterans Hospital Road.

2022 OSSC §3104.5.1.1

Exterior walls of buildings connected to pedestrian walkways shall be 2-hour fire resistance rated. This protection shall extend not less than 10 feet in every direction surrounding the perimeter of the pedestrian walkway.

The proposed design for the new pedestrian walkway incorporates construction materials with a 2-hour fire resistance rating extending along all sides of the walkway 10 feet from the building connections, forming a rated "cuff" around the walkway as shown in the attached drawings, instead of the 2-hour “collar” exterior wall rating illustrated in the code commentary.

The proposed pedestrian walkway for the Doernbecher Childrens Hospital addition will connect the addition to the existing hospital at Level 8. Pedestrian walkways are required by OSSC §3104.5.1.1 to provide a 2 hour rated protection where pedestrian walkway and building meet to prevent the migration of fire between pedestrian walkway and building, by going around the protection provided at the interior separation.

The proposed design for the new pedestrian walkway incorporates construction materials with a 2-hour fire-resistance rating extending along all sides, top, and bottom of the walkway 10 feet from the new building connection, forming a rated "cuff" around it instead of the rated "collar" depicted in the code commentary. This separation provides equivalent protection between building and pedestrian walkway for preventing the migration of fire.

The Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Addition (DCHA) is a new I-2 occupancy building with a pedestrian walkway on Level 8 to the existing Doernbecher Children’s Hospital building. The alternative separation method specified in OSSC §3104.5.2 is not applicable due to the walkway's height above grade exceeding 55 feet. Modifying the existing DCH building envelope to meet the 2-hour rating requirement where the new bridge connects would be disruptive to the hospital operations in adjacent spaces.

The intent of the 2 hour rated building wall separation 10’ around the connection with the pedestrian walkway is to prevent a fire from migrating between the building and pedestrian walkway without the separation required or sprinkler protection. The buildings and connecting walkway will be equipped with automatic sprinkler systems, and interior wall separations will function as smoke barriers, meeting the requirements outlined in the code. This fire protection strategy will provide equivalent protection as the prescribed method in the code, rating the building wall. It contains potential fires within both horizontal and vertical surfaces of the bridge from migrating through the exterior wall to the building, and offers protection for walkway occupants from a fire in the adjacent building. The walkways will maintain their two access points and exits as required.