Our large city of 4million+ residents currently follow the 2006 International Building Code (IBC) and recently made a modification to section 1008.1.3.4 on Access-Controlled egress doors, page 10-44, with the following interpretation made by the AHJ, and has began attempting to enforce, which clearly raises many concerns for the physical security of facilities citywide:
"Items 4 and 5 require the building fire alarm system…be interfaced with the access control system to unlock automatically the doors on activation. The doors are to remain unlocked until the fire alarm system is reset. This is so that the building entrance doors with controlled access will remain unlocked and open until fire fighters responding to the alarm have entered."
I am sure this issue has come up in other jurisdictions and would greatly appreciate if NFPA or other organizations have revisited this section of the code to further clarify their intent and give guidance to local AHJ’s in the interpretation.