These consolidated wrongful death cases arise out of an apartment building fire in which the plaintiffs’ decedents, Freeman Robinson, Sr., Freeman Robinson, Jr., and Sadie Macklis, died. The individual City of Detroit employee defendants appeal by leave granted from the trial court’s denial of two separate motions for summary disposition, one based on governmental immunity, and the other based on their claim that the Detroit Fire Prevention Code (dfpc) did not create a duty that the defendant building inspectors breached. Plaintiffs cross appeal from the trial court’s denial of their motion for partial summary disposition based on their claim that there was no factual dispute that the individual city employee defendants violated the dfpc. We reverse, holding that the trial court misread the dfpc and erred in not granting the defendant building inspector’s motion for summary disposition. We ¿so hold that the remaining individu¿ city employee defendants were entitled to summary disposition on the basis *566 that they did not owe a duty to the individual plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs’ action against defendants Plonkey, Stelzer, Slezak, Black, and Napier is premised on plaintiffs’ allegation that these fire fighters failed to follow proper fire fighting procedures. Plaintiffs support this contention by noting that when the fire fighters originally arrived at the scene of the fire, they hooked up their hoses to an inoperative fire hydrant. Plaintiffs’ claim against fire fighters Gallmore, Sutton, and Keyes is based on the allegation that these defendants failed to properly inspect the fire hydrant pursuant to department policy. With regard to defendants Tutak and Cooper, fire department building inspectors, plaintiffs allege that these defendants failed to note and issue citations for dfpc building violations, including the absence of fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and other fire alarm or prevention systems.
First, the defendant building inspectors claim that the trial court erred as a matter of law in ruling that under the dfpc they had a duty to cite the apartment building owner for code violations. We agree. Our interpretation of a city ordinance is analogous to our interpretation of statutes. Thus, the interpretation of the dfpc is a legal question and a matter for the Court.
Coddington v Robertson,
*567 Section 19-3-18(a) of the dfpc provides in pertinent part:
The provisions of this article shall apply to all buildings, structures, marine vessels, premises, and conditions within the city. The provisions of this article shall apply equally to existing as well as new buildings, structures, marine vessels, premises and conditions except that existing buildings, structures, marine vessels, premises, and conditions not in strict compliance with this article may be permitted to continue unless in the opinion of the fire marshal they constitute a distinct fire hazard to life or the property of others based on available data.
Under § 19-3-18, the apartment building, as a preexisting structure not in strict compliance with the dfpc, was permitted to continue unless in the opinion of the fire marshal it constituted a distinct fire hazard to life or the property of others based on available data. As defined under § 19-3-1, a fire hazard is something, including a "situation,” which may cause or fuel fire or explosion and poses a threat to life or property. In conjunction with § 19-3-18, § 19-3-20(b)(3) provides:
Existing condition correction notice. The fire marshal shall issue a written notice whenever he finds that a certain provision of this article shall be applied to existing conditions under the authority of section 19-3-18(a).
Thus, § 19-3-18(a) requires a fire marshal to take the affirmative action of issuing a written notice before the code applies to existing buildings.
Construing the dfpc as a whole, we hold that the code requires affirmative action by the fire marshal before an existing building is brought within its provisions. Because there is no evidence *568 that the fire marshal issued a written notice of the existence of a fire hazard, there was no duty to cite the owner of the apartment building for violating the dppc. Because this was the only basis for holding the defendant building inspectors liable, the trial court erred in failing to grant them summary disposition on this ground.
Second, the individual city employee defendants allege that they are entitled to summary disposition on the ground that they did not owe a duty to plaintiffs. We agree.
Duty is a necessary element to set forth a cognizable claim of negligence.
Moning v Alfono,
With regard to the defendant inspectors, we hold that they did not have a special relationship with plaintiffs that would create a duty beyond their duty to the general public. In an analogous situation in
Hobrla v Glass,
Likewise, the defendant fire fighters did not have a special relationship with plaintiffs. In
Zavala v Zinser,
In sum, we hold that the duties placed upon the individual city employee defendants either to inspect buildings for code violations, to inspect fire hydrants, or to combat fires are duties owed to the general public and not to the individual plaintiffs. The individual city employee defendants are entitled to summary disposition.
We are not persuaded by plaintiffs’ arguments that the public duty doctrine was subsumed within the test for governmental immunity set forth in Ross v Consumers Power Co (On Rehearing), supra, and MCL 691.1401 et seq.; MSA 3.996(101) et seq. The public duty doctrine is premised on the existence of an element of a cause of action for negligence. On the other hand, the governmental immunity issue concerns the creation of exceptions to liability based on the functions of a governmental actor. The issues of immunity and duty are *570 separate and distinct. The doctrine of governmental immunity has not supplanted the public duty doctrine. This distinction between the two doctrines was implicitly recognized by the Michigan Supreme Court in Zavala, supra, in which the Court declined to address the "public/individual” duty issue because it found that any action was barred by governmental immunity. Id. at 658-659. Therefore, we hold that the public duty doctrine exists independently of the issue of governmental immunity.
Considering our conclusion that the individual city employee defendants were entitled to summary disposition, we do not address plaintiffs’ cross appeal of the trial court’s denial of their motion for partial summary disposition.
Reversed and remanded for entry of an order granting the individual city employee defendants’ motion for summary disposition. We do not retain jurisdiction.