CA 5 Year Fire Sprinkler Certification

Started by FabianV • 6 replies • 10134 views

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FabianV (California)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Does anyone here have information relating to Title 19 Chapter 5 Section 4 which relates to a 5 Year Fire Sprinkler Certification and quarterly maintenance program? Our community when first built had sprinklers installed throughout. I have called the City's Fire Marshall and he states that he does not know of this requirement applying to a residential community such as ours. Our insurance agent and the Fire Inspection Companies I have talked with state that it is required to do so. It appears that there is some order of authority to follow, i.e. 1) City Fire Marshall, 2) Building Code Enforcement, 3) State Fire Marshall, etc. Does anyone have any information on this subject for California?

DaneC (California)
Posts: 210

Posted:

http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/codeinterpretation/00_016.pdf

California State Fire Marshal
CODE INTERPRETATION
Date Issued 08-07-00 Interpretation # 00-016
Topic Fire Sprinkler Maintenance
Code Section(s)
Requested by James H. McLaughlin, President/CEO
Lund Pearson McLaughlin
897 Independence Avenue, #1E
Mountain View, CA 94043-2355
Prepared by Joe Garcia, Division Chief
(559) 437-1514

Does a random sampling of the sprinkler system components meet the intent of
the five-year certification requirements as contained in Title 19, California Code of Regulations?
It is the intent of the five-year certification inspection of fire sprinkler systems that the entire system, including all components, be inspected. Title 19 does not exempt any components or areas from the inspection process. All sprinkler heads should be inspected regardless of location. If only a percentage of sprinkler heads are inspected, the system cannot be certified or tagged. If the inspection is incomplete, the licensed
inspector must notify the building owner of the reasons for not certifying the system.
The fire department must also be notified in writing when a system is not certified.

DaneC (California)
Posts: 210

Posted:

You could also try the California Standards Building Commission.

http://www.bsc.ca.gov/

ColinK (California)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Fabian, over the 3 1/2 years since your post, have you learned more about not only the CA 5-year inspection, but anything about any any annual "inside unit" inspection requirement (or exemptions to) of all residents fire sprinklers?

ColinK (California)
Posts: 2

Posted:

MarilynC1 (California)
Posts: 3

Posted:

My community is undergoing its second 5-year inspection, at which time we were informed about a mandatory quarterly inspection due to legislation passed in 2007. This increased our dues dramatically. The 5-year inspection will come out of the reserve fund, but the quarterly will come out of the operating account. I've trying to find the citation about the new quarterly inspection. So far all I've found is the CA Fire Code for 2007, Chapter 9:

907.20 Inspection, testing and maintenance.

The maintenance and testing schedules and procedures for fire alarm and fire detection systems shall be in accordance with this section and Chapter 10 of NFPA 72

NFPA is the National Fire Protection Association. It's a rather all-encompassing fire prevention org that addresses all kinds of fire systems for residences, restaurants, dry cleaners, office buildings to power plants (I gather).

I've decided I'm going to email the company conducting our 5-year recert and reparation for the citation. As a volunteer board member, I've spent enough time searching.

MarilynC1 (California)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Hello there,

I found more information on the National Fire Protection Association website. Go to the NFPA 25 regulation where it explains the inspection, testing, maintenance requirements of various fire sprinkler systems, including the automatic wet sprinkler systems. Join and subscribe because it's free, and you will have an opportunity to read the codes which are not difficult unless you are an engineer-type and want to read it in detail. Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are the chapters dealing with the requirements.

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