FDNY Fire Code 309.3: spatial and detection requirements for indoor charging rooms.
Plain-English summary of FDNY Fire Code 309.3 for indoor powered-mobility charging rooms and how Kamenet aligns monitoring evidence to the rule.
Why this exists.
Most deaths from NYC lithium-battery fires happen in residential buildings, directly below where people sleep.
Charging rooms are often basements, hallways, or back-of-house spaces that operators formalized only after e-bike and scooter counts grew.
Fire Code 309.3 brings those rooms into a documented, inspectable regime: spatial separation, fire-rated barriers, sprinklers, smoke detectors, and a dedicated extinguisher.
What it requires
- Rooms with 1 to 5 powered mobility devices use wall outlets only, keep 2-foot separation between batteries, avoid extension cords, and stay away from exits.
- Rooms with 6 or more powered mobility devices indoors require a 1-hour fire-rated barrier, sprinkler protection, smoke detection, and a dedicated room.
- A dedicated 4-A:20-B:C extinguisher is required for covered rooms.
- 2-foot separation applies at single-room loads up to 20 kWh.
- 3-foot separation applies at single-room loads from 20 to 50 kWh.
- The 80 kWh residential lot maximum is handled through the DOB Rule 3616-07 pathway.
In force.
Fire Code §309.3 was enacted as Local Law 47 of 2022, effective April 15, 2022, and has been amended subsequently. The October 26, 2025 effective date applies to separate DOB ESS rules (1 RCNY 101-19 and 3616-07), not to §309.3. FDNY enforcement is active: the 2024 task force inspected 585 e-bike shops and issued 426 summonses, 138 violation orders, 32 criminal summonses, and 7 vacate orders.
How Kamenet aligns.
- Continuous thermal scene monitoring gives the room operator a dated record of the charging area, not just a one-time walkthrough.
- Off-gas anomaly detection runs in parallel with the room's existing smoke detectors: different physics, complementary signal.
- Tamper detection turns a moved, obstructed, or offline sensor into a documented event instead of a silent evidence gap.
- The compliance export can preserve room area, device count, separation distances, and lot-load data captured at onboarding for inspector review.
Current wording.
Aligned to FDNY Fire Code 309.3.