Ontario Fire Code: Alarms, Exits, and Sprinkler Deadlines

The Ontario Fire Code (Ontario Regulation 213/07) sets the minimum fire safety rules that every occupied building in the province must meet, covering smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, clear exits, fire safety plans, equipment testing, and record keeping.¹ It’s enforced under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, and violations can cost individuals up to $50,000, corporations up to $100,000, and in serious cases carry up to a year in jail.²

Who the Code Applies To

The code puts responsibility on the “owner,” and that word is broader than you might expect. It covers any person, firm, or corporation with control over any portion of a building or property, including anyone occupying it.¹ Property managers, commercial tenants running a business in a leased space, and building superintendents all fall inside it. If you control part of a building, the code treats you as responsible for fire safety in that part.

Landlords and Tenants

For rental units, the code names the landlord as the party responsible for smoke alarm maintenance and testing. Landlords must test the alarms at least once a year and again after every change in tenancy, and they must give tenants a copy of the manufacturer’s maintenance instructions.¹

Tenants have to notify the landlord as soon as they realize an alarm has been disconnected, isn’t working, or has impaired operation. Disabling a smoke alarm is prohibited outright, for anyone. That split keeps landlords from blaming tenants for dead batteries and keeps tenants from ignoring a fault on the assumption someone else will handle it.

Smoke Alarm Rules

Every home in Ontario must have a working smoke alarm on every storey (including the basement) and outside all sleeping areas.³ The second part is where people slip up. A single alarm on the main floor doesn’t meet the code if bedrooms are upstairs or in the basement, because the alarm has to be positioned where it will actually wake someone asleep.

In multi-unit residential buildings, alarms are required inside every dwelling unit under the same placement rules. Sleeping rooms that aren’t part of a dwelling unit, such as rooms in rooming houses, need their own alarm inside the room.¹ Alarms can be hardwired or battery-operated, so long as the device meets the CAN/ULC-S531 standard.³

Carbon Monoxide Alarms

A CO alarm is required in any home that has a fuel-burning appliance (furnace, water heater, gas stove), a fireplace, or an attached garage. The alarm must be installed adjacent to each sleeping area.⁴

What Changed on January 1, 2026

Effective January 1, 2026, CO alarms are required on every storey of a qualifying home, including storeys with no sleeping area.⁴ The same expansion applies to individual suites in multi-unit residential buildings: if the building has a fuel-burning appliance, fireplace, or attached garage, every storey of each suite needs an alarm.⁵

From the same date, a home also qualifies for mandatory CO alarms if it receives heated air from a fuel-burning appliance that isn’t inside the home itself, such as one in an attached utility shed. If your home had a single CO alarm near the bedrooms before 2026, it likely no longer meets the code.

Keeping Exits and Corridors Clear

This is the rule that gets violated the most casually. All means of egress, including corridors, stairwells, and exit doors, must be maintained in good repair and kept free of obstructions.¹ Boxes stacked in an apartment hallway, a propped-open fire door, shopping carts left in front of a retail exit — all violations.

Combustible materials can’t be stored in elevator shafts, ventilation shafts, service rooms, or any part of an escape route. Corridors in residential buildings and retirement homes may contain solid furniture, but only if it doesn’t block the egress path and complies with fire protection conditions. Fire separation doors and the area around them must stay clear so the door can swing freely. Turnstiles, checkout counters, and barriers can’t obstruct exits or the paths leading to them.

Fire Safety Plans

Not every building needs a written plan, but many do. The code requires one for assembly occupancies (restaurants, theatres, places of worship), residential buildings with more than ten occupants, and buildings four storeys or taller, among others.¹

The plan has to cover:

Emergency procedures for sounding the alarm, notifying the fire department, evacuating occupants (including those who need assistance), and using elevators during an emergency.
The appointment, organization, and training of supervisory staff responsible for fire safety duties, along with instructions for other occupants.
Building diagrams showing the type, location, and operation of fire emergency systems.
A schedule and procedure for fire drills.
Measures for controlling fire hazards and maintaining safety equipment, including alternative measures during any shutdown of fire protection systems.

The plan must be approved by the local Chief Fire Official, and it has to be kept current. A plan that doesn’t reflect renovations or a change in occupancy is nearly as useless as having no plan at all.

Fire Drill Frequency

Drill frequency scales with how vulnerable the occupants are:

Monthly for care occupancies, care and treatment occupancies, detention occupancies, retirement homes, group living residences regulated under Ontario’s developmental disabilities legislation, and premises providing child care.
Every three months for buildings that fall under Subsection 3.2.6 of the Ontario Building Code, which generally covers complex high-rise structures.
At least once a year for every other building that requires a fire safety plan.

These drills are for supervisory staff, meaning the people assigned duties in the building’s plan.

Testing and Record Keeping

Installing equipment is half the obligation. The code requires ongoing testing on set intervals, and it requires you to write down what you did.

Portable fire extinguishers need a monthly visual inspection and full maintenance once a year. Sprinkler systems have staggered testing intervals through the year, running from bi-monthly water flow checks up to an annual review of pipe hangers, sprinkler heads, fire department connections, water flow alarms, dry-pipe valves, and water supply pressure.¹ Emergency lights and exit signs need a monthly functional test and an annual full-duration test that runs the system for its design period (typically 30 to 90 minutes) under simulated power failure, followed by a charging system check against manufacturer specifications.

Every test and every corrective measure the code requires has to be documented with the date and time it was completed. A logbook, inspection tags, or electronic records all qualify, as long as the records are kept at the building and can be produced for the Chief Fire Official on request. Electronic records stored offsite are fine if they can be made readily available.

If a fire inspector arrives and you can’t show documentation of your last sprinkler test or emergency lighting check, that’s a compliance failure on its own, even when the equipment is working perfectly.

Sprinkler Retrofit Deadline for Care Homes

Part 9 of the code’s Division B contains retrofit rules for existing buildings, and the most consequential recent one targets care occupancies. Buildings containing long-term care homes, or homes for special care providing sleeping accommodation for more than ten residents, had a January 1, 2025 deadline to install automatic sprinkler systems under Article 9.4.5.5.⁶

Buildings that couldn’t meet the prescriptive requirement had two alternatives: an approved life safety study or an approved alternative solution, both prepared by a professional engineer or architect and approved by the Chief Fire Official. Enforcement of missed deadlines is handled case by case, weighing risk factors, progress toward compliance, and local policies. In serious cases involving multiple fire safety risks, the Fire Marshal can authorize orders to close the building.

Inspections and Orders

Fire inspectors have broad authority under Section 19 of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act to enter and inspect properties for compliance, and these inspections can happen without prior notice.² Local fire departments and the Office of the Fire Marshal both enforce the code.

When an inspector finds a problem, the usual response is an inspection order under Section 21 of the Act. An order can require the owner or occupant to make structural repairs, remove combustible materials, install fire safety equipment, prepare a fire safety plan, or correct any other violation. Each order must state its reasons, describe what has to be done, set a compliance deadline, and tell the recipient about their right to request a review.

Appealing an Order

If you think an order is unreasonable, you have 15 days to request a review by the Fire Marshal. Miss that window and you can apply for an extension of time within 30 days of being served. After the Fire Marshal completes the review, either party can appeal the decision to the Fire Safety Commission. Ignoring an order is the worst response available: it becomes fully enforceable, and the penalties escalate from there.

Penalties

Anyone who violates the fire code or ignores an order made under the Act faces a fine of up to $50,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both. Corporations face a maximum fine of $100,000 per conviction.²

The penalties apply per violation, so a building with several deficiencies can generate several charges. Jail time is reserved for the worst cases, but the financial exposure alone is enough to make compliance the cheaper path. A property owner with three or four separate violations can be looking at six figures in fines before legal costs.

1
Ontario.ca. O. Reg. 213/07 – Fire Code
2
Ontario.ca. Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997
3
Government of Ontario. Fire Safety at Home
4
Government of Ontario. Carbon Monoxide Alarm Rules for Existing Homes
5
Government of Ontario. Carbon Monoxide Alarm Rules for Existing Multi-Unit Residences
6
Government of Ontario. Fire Marshal’s Communiques From 2024