§ 255. Egress from apartments. 1. A dwelling three or more stories in
height shall have at least two means of egress from every apartment or
suite. Such means shall be remote from each other. Except where it opens
into a stair as permitted in subdivision three, one means shall be to a
public hall connecting with an enclosed stair or fire-stair not more
than fifty feet distant from such means. The other required means of
egress shall open either directly upon a fire-escape or a public
vestibule or other public hall connecting with a stair or fire-stair.

2. Except as hereinafter provided for dwellings two stories or less in
height, such vestibule, hall or stair shall be separated from the public
hall or stair, on which the first means of egress opens, by a fireproof
wall, unpierced except by a fireproof door and assembly with the door
self-closing. In a dwelling two stories or less in height, the
separating wall may be fire-retarded.

3. In a dwelling three stories or less in height and occupied by four
families or less on each story, and in any section of a permanently
occupied dwelling which is two stories or less in height and occupied by
four families or less on each story, a means of egress from an apartment
may open directly into a stair without the intervention of a public
hall. Such means shall have a fireproof door and assembly with the door
self-closing and without a transom.