Fort Lauderdale, FL Building Safety: Elevator Maintenance (2026)

Section 13-64 sits in Chapter 13's fire prevention article alongside the city's other maintained life-safety-systems rules, such as the Sec. 13-58 duty to keep sprinkler, standpipe and alarm systems in safe working order and the Sec. 13-59 duty to keep exits unobstructed and illuminated. The key box duty applies to all new and existing buildings whose elevators have firefighter service capability, meaning the elevator can be placed under manual firefighter control during a fire. Each such building must maintain at least one key box holding the keys needed to operate every elevator on site.

The City of Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Department, not the building owner or an elevator contractor, decides where the box is mounted and what type of box qualifies, and once a box is approved it cannot be swapped, relocated, or have its contents changed in any manner without the department's prior written sign-off. The rule traces to Ord. No. C-01-28, adopted July 10, 2001, and was renumbered and amended by Ord. No. C-17-28 in 2017. It works in tandem with the Florida Building Code's own elevator firefighter-service requirements and the fire chief's general authority under Sec.

13-58 to order additional protective equipment when a building's size or hazards warrant it, and any owner dispute over a Fire-Rescue decision under that companion section carries a ten-day window to appeal to the board of rules and appeals.