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1. I’ve heard fire districts use the terms “fire alarm system” and “sprinkler monitoring alarm system.” What is the difference?

That question can actually be expanded on to determine the difference between a manual fire alarm system, an automatic and manual fire alarm system, and an automatic sprinkler system water flow monitoring alarm system (often called a sprinkler monitoring alarm system). We will define all three on the Fire Alarm System Definitions Page.

2. I’ve heard fire districts use the term “common-use” area. What is the definition of a common-use area?

Common-use areas are defined in International Building Code as, “interior or exterior circulation paths, rooms, spaces, or elements that are not for public use and are made available for the shared use of two or more people.” Public-use areas are defined in International Building Code as, “interior or exterior rooms or spaces that are made available to the general public.” Employee work areas are defined in the International Building Code as, “all or any portion of a space used only by employees and only for work.”

Hallways, lobbies, restrooms and any other general usage areas, such as meeting and conference rooms, classrooms, cafeterias, employee break rooms, dressing rooms, examination rooms and similar spaces that are not used solely as individual employee work areas (i.e., individual offices) will be common-use areas or public-use areas depending on the facility. Employee work areas can be part of common-use areas or a private office. Mechanical rooms, electrical rooms, telephone equipment rooms, janitor closets and similar non-occupiable spaces are not considered common-use or public-use areas.

3. I’ve heard fire districts use the term “fire flow” when referring to fire hydrant requirements associated with a new project? What does the term “fire flow” really mean?

The term “fire flow” means minimum volume of water that must be available per minute from the fire hydrants in the immediate area of the project. Fire flow is measured in gallons per minute (gpm) and must be provided at a minimum residual pressure of 20 pounds per square inch (psi) in order to be usable by the fire pumps on fire apparatus.

The minimum fire flow required by the fire code for all commercial projects is 1,500 gpm provided by at least one fire hydrant. However, some cities require that the water distribution system serving a new project area be designed to deliver much more than that. Depending on the size of a building and its construction type, required fire flows can be as high as 4,000 gpm.

4. I’ve heard fire districts use the term “turnaround time.” What does that mean, how is it determined, and what is the turnaround time of plans submitted to the Fire Prevention Division for review?

Plans submitted for review are examined by fire safety engineers on a first-in, first-out basis. The term “turnaround time” refers to the time it takes for a fire safety engineer to complete a review (i.e. approve, disapprove or issue comments) on a set of plans submitted to the Fire Prevention Division.

Turnaround time is not “fixed” and depends on several factors, the most critical of those factors being the amount of construction taking place in the jurisdiction at the time plans are submitted. Because turnaround time can be a significant time period, it is important that plans submitted for review are of the highest quality and are as accurate and as detailed as possible.

Plans that are disapproved and have to be resubmitted to the Fire Prevention Division have to start at the end of the queue. Such delays can be costly and can cause serious problems with construction time lines.

5. I’ve heard building departments and fire districts use the term “variance request.” What exactly is a “variance request”?

A “variance request” is an inquiry to deviate from a code requirement by providing compensatory measures that enable the design to provide an equivalent or greater level of safety than that which would have been minimally required by the code. A variance request should not be an inquiry to waive a code requirement. The fire district is not authorized to waive code requirements.

Variance requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may require extensive technical justification and/or additional review time.