State Fire Marshal Inspections

The following is a list of occupancy types that fall under state of Georgia Fire Marshal’s Office and are required to be sent to the state for inspection or plan review.

• Buildings or structures 3 or more stories in height

• Buildings 3 or more stories in height used by 3 or more families as residences

• Any building in which there are more than 15 sleeping accommodations for hire, with or without meals but without individual cooking facilities, whether designated as a hotel, motel, inn, club, dormitory, rooming or boarding house, or by any other name;

• Any building or group of buildings which contain schools and academies for any combination of grades one through 12 having more than 15 children or students in attendance at any given time and all state funded kindergarten programs;

• Hospitals, health care centers, mental health institutions, orphanages, nursing homes, convalescent homes, old age homes, jails, prisons, reformatories, and all administrative, public assembly, and academic buildings of colleges, universities, and vocational-technical schools. As used in this subparagraph, the terms "nursing homes," "convalescent homes," and "old age homes" mean any building used for the lodging, personal care, or nursing care on a 24 hour basis of four or more invalids, convalescents, or elderly persons who are not members of the same family;

• Racetracks, stadiums, and grandstands;

• Theaters, auditoriums, restaurants, bars, lounges, nightclubs, dance halls, recreation halls, and other places of public assembly having an occupant load of 300 or more persons, except that the occupant load shall be 100 or more persons in those buildings where alcoholic beverages are served;

• Churches having an occupant load of 500 or more persons in a common area or having an occupant load greater than 1,000 persons based on total occupant load of the building or structure;

• Department stores and retail mercantile establishments having a gross floor area of 25,000 square feet on any one floor or having three or more floors that are open to the public. For purposes of this subparagraph, shopping centers and malls shall be assessed upon the basis of the entire area covered by the same roof or sharing common walls; provided, however, that nothing in this Code section shall apply to single-story malls or shopping centers subdivided into areas of less than 25,000 square feet by a wall or walls with a two-hour fire resistance rating and where there are unobstructed exit doors in the front and rear of every such individual occupancy which open directly to the outside;

• Group day-care homes and day-care centers required to be licensed or commissioned as such by the Department of Early Care and Learning and in which at least seven children receive care. As used in this subparagraph, the term "group day-care home" means a day-care facility subject to licensure by the Department of Early Care and Learning where at least seven but not more than 12 children receive care; and the term "day-care center" means a day-care facility subject to licensure or issuance of a commission by the Department of Early Care and Learning where more than 12 children receive care. Fire safety standards adopted by rules of the Commissioner pursuant to Code Section 25-2-4 which are applicable to group day-care homes and day-care centers shall not require staff-to-child ratios; and

• Personal care homes required to be licensed as such by the Department of Community Health and having at least seven beds for nonfamily adults

Visit the state website for more information