Massachusetts Statutes

Section 26B. Every building or structure not exceeding seventy feet in height above the mean grade erected or substantially altered to be occupied for residential purposes shall be protected with an approved automatic fire warning system in accordance with the provisions of the s…

Section 26C. Apartment houses containing six or more dwelling units, hotels, boarding or lodging houses, or family hotels which are not regulated by section twenty-six A or twenty-six B shall be equipped with automatic smoke or heat detectors as provided by the rules and regulati…

Section 26D. As used in this section and sections twenty-six E and twenty-six F the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:— ''Approved monitored battery power smoke detector'', shall be a smoke detector which is activated…

Section 26E. (a) All one and two family dwellings occupied in whole or in part for residential purposes and not regulated by section twenty-six A or twenty-six B shall be equipped with approved smoke detectors. Owners of such buildings or structures shall install either an approv…

Section 26F. All buildings or structures occupied in whole or in part for residential purposes and not regulated by sections twenty-six A, twenty-six B or twenty-six C shall, upon the sale or transfer of such building or structure, be equipped by the seller with approved smoke de…

Section 26G. Every building or structure, including any additions or major alterations thereto, which totals, in the aggregate, more than 7,500 gross square feet in floor area shall be protected throughout with an adequate system of automatic sprinklers in accordance with the pro…

Section 26H. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, every lodging house or boarding house shall be protected throughout with an adequate system of automatic sprinklers in accordance with the provisions of the state building code. No such sprinkler syste…

Section 26I. In a city, town or district which accepts the provisions of this section, any building hereafter constructed or hereafter substantially rehabilitated so as to constitute the equivalent of new construction and occupied in whole or in part for residential purposes and …

Section 27. Any owner of a building who, within six months after having received an order from the marshal under section twenty-six, fails to comply with the requirement of such order shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.

Section 27A. Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall shut off, disconnect, obstruct, remove or destroy, or cause or permit to be shut off, disconnected, obstructed, removed or destroyed, any part of any sprinkler system, water main, hydrant or other device used for fire p…

Section 27B. No person other than an employee in the service of the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof or in the service of an independent contractor acting for the commonwealth or any such subdivision shall pile, push or plow snow or ice on or against any fire hyd…

Section 28. The board shall make such rules and regulations, and the head of the fire department shall make such orders or rules not inconsistent therewith, as may be necessary to promulgate a comprehensive fire safety code for the following purposes: (1) to prevent or remedy any…

Section 28A. The head of the fire department or any person designated by him who, in the performance of his official duties, observes any condition which he believes to be a violation of any provision of the state building code or any amendments thereto, shall report the same to …

Section 28B. The board shall by rule require, and the head of the fire department shall make such orders or rules not inconsistent therewith, that any person having control of a mercantile, commercial or industrial establishment wherein canine guards are maintained shall notify t…

Section 29. If buildings or other premises are owned by one person and occupied by another under lease or otherwise, the orders of the marshal or head of the fire department shall apply to the occupant alone, except where the rules or orders require the making of additions to or …

Section 2A. The principal of any public or private school that provides instruction to pupils in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, shall immediately report any incident involving the unauthorized ignition of any fire within the school building or on school grounds to the local fi…

Section 3. The marshal shall investigate or cause to be investigated the circumstances of all fires or explosions of suspicious origin of which he has notice, and may investigate or cause to be investigated the circumstances of any fire or explosion occurring anywhere within the …

Section 30. Violation of any lawful rule, order or regulation of the board or of any lawful order of the marshal or lawful rule or order of the head of a fire department, punishment whereof is not otherwise provided for, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars …

Section 30A. Whoever unlawfully tampers with, changes, mutilates, destroys, or otherwise removes, from a building or structure, any notice of violation affixed under the provisions of section thirty, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment in…

Section 31. Any person aggrieved by any act, rule, order or decision of the head of a fire department, or other person or persons acting or purporting to act under authority derived from this chapter, except section five, or any rule or regulation thereunder, may appeal to the ma…

Section 32. The marshal or police or fire department or other appropriate law enforcement agency may request an insurance company to share information relative to an investigation concerning a loss due to fire of suspicious or incendiary origin, and to furnish other relevant mate…

Section 33. The marshal shall study fire hazard and fire prevention and all matters relating thereto, hear suggestions and complaints from all persons and from all cities and towns, advise with the officers of such cities and towns and make suggestions to the general court and to…

Section 34. Except as otherwise provided, any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars, or, in case of a continuing offence after notice of such violation, to a fine of not more than one hundred dollars for every day during w…

Section 34A. (a) Any owner, occupant, lessee or other person having control or supervision of any assembly use group building, as defined by the state building code, and who causes or permits a dangerous condition to exist on the premises at anytime shall be punished by a fine of…

Section 34B. Any person who wantonly or recklessly violates the state building code or state fire code and thereby causes serious bodily injury or death to any person shall be punished by a fine of not more than $25,000 or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 y…

Section 34C. Whoever (1) commits a second or subsequent violation of the state building code or state fire code, including any incorporated specialized codes, or any lawful order of the marshal, the head of the fire department or a state or local building inspector or (2) continu…

Section 34D. Notwithstanding any other general or special law to the contrary, the housing court, the district court or the superior court shall have jurisdiction and equitable powers to enforce the lawful orders of the marshal or head of the fire department pursuant to this chap…

Section 37. No person shall construct, maintain or use any tank or container of more than ten thousand gallons' capacity, for the storage of any fluid other than water, unless the same is located underground, without first securing a permit therefor from the marshal. The marshal …

Section 37A. As used in this section, the term ''fuel storage tank'' shall mean an underground tank used or designed to be used for the storage of gasoline, oil, or other fuel, or other flammable liquids; provided, that such tank does not have an acceptable form of leak detection…

Section 37B. Notwithstanding the provisions of section thirty-seven A, grants authorized pursuant to said section thirty-seven A may be awarded for either the removal or replacement of a fuel storage tank; provided, however, that no such grant shall exceed fifty percent of the to…

Section 38. The board shall make rules and regulations governing the construction, use, and maintenance of tanks to which section thirty-seven applies; governing the removal and relocation of tanks to which section thirty-eight A applies; and governing the allocation of grants to…

Section 38J. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Board'', the board of fire prevention regulations within the department. ''Fuel supply line'', a line from a tank to a burner in whi…

Section 39. No person shall sell, or keep or offer for sale, or have in his possession, or under his control, or use, or explode, or cause to explode, any combustible or explosive composition or substance, or any combination of such compositions or substances, or any other articl…

Section 39A. The board shall make rules and regulations for the granting of permits for supervised displays of fireworks by municipalities, fair associations, amusement parks and other organizations or groups of individuals. Such rules and regulations shall provide in part that (…

Section 4. The marshal, the head of the fire department, or any person to whom the marshal or the head of the fire department may delegate the authority, may, in the performance of the duties imposed by this chapter, or in furtherance of the purpose of any provision of any law, o…

Section 40. No person shall store fireworks in quantities except such as may be permitted by the rules and regulations of the board outside the premises of a fireworks manufactory in any building or other structure located within one thousand feet of any church, theatre, hall, pl…

Section 41. Action on a bond filed under section forty or forty-two may be brought by any person holding a judgment to secure the payment of which the bond was filed and may be brought by such person in the name of the city or town treasurer, or of the state treasurer, as the cas…

Section 42. No person engaged in the business of displaying or exhibiting fireworks shall, by himself or his agents, discharge, fire off, explode or display fireworks unless he has on file with the state treasurer a bond running to the state treasurer with a surety or sureties ap…

Section 43. No action for injury to an employee of a person required to give a bond under section forty or forty-two shall be brought on such bond if such injury arises out of and in the course of the employment. If claims under any bond filed under either of said sections are es…

Section 44. Firecrackers and pyrotechnical ship or railway signals shall be included and classed as fireworks, but the provisions of the four preceding sections shall not apply to the storage of pyrotechnical ship or railway signals nor to the discharge, firing or exploding of th…

Section 45. Whoever violates any provision of the five preceding sections shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

Section 46. No person shall manufacture, store, keep for sale, sell or transport any compound for use as a stove polish containing any liquid or compound whatsoever which will emit a gas that will flash at a temperature of less than one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit, excep…

Section 5. The marshal, the head of the fire department or any person to whom the marshal or the head of the fire department may delegate his authority in writing may, and upon complaint of a person having an interest in any building or premises or property adjacent thereto, shal…

Section 50. Upon complaint made to a court or justice authorized to issue warrants in criminal cases that the complainant has probable cause to suspect and does suspect that gunpowder, dynamite or any other explosives, crude petroleum or any of its products, or explosive or infla…

Section 51. Articles seized under the preceding section may, after due notice and hearing, be adjudged to be forfeited, and may be ordered to be sold or destroyed in such manner as the court or magistrate may direct, and the proceeds, if any, paid into the county treasury.