N.Y. Multiple Residence Law § 255

§ 255. Egress from apartments. 1. A dwelling three or more stories in\nheight shall have at least two means of egress from every apartment or\nsuite. Such means shall be remote from each other. Except where it opens\ninto a stair as permitted in subdivision three, one means shall be to a\npublic hall connecting with an enclosed stair or fire-stair not more\nthan fifty feet distant from such means. The other required means of\negress shall open either directly upon a fire-escape or a public\nvestibule or other public hall connecting with a stair or fire-stair.\n 2. Except as hereinafter provided for dwellings two stories or less in\nheight, such vestibule, hall or stair shall be separated from the public\nhall or stair, on which the first means of egress opens, by a fireproof\nwall, unpierced except by a fireproof door and assembly with the door\nself-closing. In a dwelling two stories or less in height, the\nseparating wall may be fire-retarded.\n 3. In a dwelling three stories or less in height and occupied by four\nfamilies or less on each story, and in any section of a permanently\noccupied dwelling which is two stories or less in height and occupied by\nfour families or less on each story, a means of egress from an apartment\nmay open directly into a stair without the intervention of a public\nhall. Such means shall have a fireproof door and assembly with the door\nself-closing and without a transom.\n