N.Y. MRE Law § 26

§ 26. Egress from dwellings. In every such dwelling three stories or\nmore in height there shall be from each story at least two independent\nmeans of egress accessible to each apartment or suite. The first means\nshall open into a public hall connected with a stair affording safe\naccess to a street, or to a yard, court or passageway affording\ncontinuous, safe and unobstructed access to a street. The second means\nshall be directly to a fire-escape or to an enclosed stair without\npassing through the first means, except that where the first means\nincludes an interior stair which is closed off at each floor level by\nfire-retarded construction with a fireproof self-closing door therein,\nthe second means may be another such interior stair or a fire-escape\ndirectly accessible on the same story from a public hall therein whether\nor not such public hall is also a part of the first means provided such\nfire-escape is not a wire, chain, cable, vertical ladder or rope\nfire-escape. In lieu of a second means of egress a sprinkler system may\nbe installed in the public halls and stairs.\n Except as required by the provisions of article four of this chapter,\nthe second means of egress shall not be required in a multiple dwelling\nof fireproof construction, six stories or less in height, erected before\nJuly first, nineteen hundred fifty-two, if the egress arrangements\nthereof complied with requirements of law applicable at the time the\ndwelling was erected.\n