The Single-Exit Residential Building Study for the State of Minnesota
Presented by:
Carl Baldassarra, PE, FSFPE, Senior Principal, Fire Protection, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. & Nicholas Ozog, PE, MSFPE, Associate Principal, Fire Protection, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
The potential increase in the story height of single-exit stairway multi-family residential buildings has recently received national attention as a means to help alleviate the housing shortage in the United States. Some housing advocates have cited the current limitation on single-exit stairway buildings as a factor affecting the cost of construction of multi-family buildings that could purportedly be addressed by increasing the allowable height and area for single-exit stairway buildings, resulting in reduced construction costs, more usable floor area, and more flexibility for infilling urban lots. Various cities and states have made changes to their codes to allow taller and larger residential buildings with a single exit stairway, largely based upon professional judgement and anecdotal information.
The State of Minnesota legislature mandated a study to evaluate taller and/or larger multi-family buildings with a single-exit stairway serving buildings up to seventy-five feet in height with a goal of maintaining the level of risk to be less than or equal to what is currently accepted by the State’s building code. This type of analysis had not been conducted previously. The State also created a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) that consisted of architects, code officials, developers, firefighters, fire marshals, fire protection engineers, and housing experts to help guide the study. In the past, input from this broad group of stakeholders was not always sought.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Carl F. Baldassarra, PE, FSFPE
Carl is a Senior Principal and Manager of the Fire Protection practice at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates in Chicago/Northbrook, Illinois. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President at Rolf Jensen & Associates, and President of Schirmer Engineering Corporation where he worked for more than thirty-five years. Over his career, Mr. Baldassarra has served on many NFPA and ICC technical committees, including the ICC Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings, responsible for development of the first comprehensive criteria for mass timber construction in the 2021 edition of the IBC. He has also served on the ICC Code Technology Committee; and technical committees for Fire Code (NFPA 1), Automatic Sprinklers (NFPA 13), Smoke Control (NFPA 92), and Life Safety (NFPA 101).
Nicholas E. Ozog, PE, MSFPE
Nick Ozog is a licensed fire protection engineer with 20 years of experience, and is an Associate Principal with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates in Chicago, Illinois. Since joining WJE in 2016, Nick has conducted fire/life safety analyses of new and existing buildings of virtually all building types, from high-rise buildings like the Willis Tower to health care, to public assembly, such as the Wintrust Arena, developing technically-based alternative methods and materials when necessary to support the goals of the project. Mr. Ozog’s background also includes fire risk assessments of highly-protected risks such as petro-chemical facilities, energy storage facilities and other types of industrial facilities. He has also conducted loss investigations and analyses of the roles of sprinkler systems and fire detection systems in those losses.
This meeting will take place at:
Waterview
350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654
The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the LaSalle Room with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn for our business meeting and technical presentation.
Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com
