Fire Safety Plan Burnaby

Who needs a fire safety plan in Burnaby

Burnaby Fire Department requires a fire safety plan under Sections 2.8 and 5.6 of the BC Fire Code, based on how the building is used. In practice that means every building with a fire alarm system, every building three storeys or higher, assembly and care occupancies, and any building where an inspector has issued a notice asking for one. Burnaby goes one step further than most Lower Mainland cities: every construction and demolition site in the city needs a construction fire safety plan, not just the towers.

The deadline is written into the by-law. Under Section 23 of the City of Burnaby Fire Services Bylaw No. 11860, the owner or the owner’s agent has 60 days from the completion of new construction or a renovation to submit a fire safety plan to the fire chief. For a concrete tower with a generator, fire pump, and two parkade levels, 60 days is not much. Start the plan while the building is still finishing.

How Burnaby Fire Department reviews a plan

Burnaby has the most specific submission process in Metro Vancouver, and it is the reason a plan accepted in Vancouver or Surrey does not simply transfer. The Fire Administration Office (4867 Sperling Avenue, 604-294-7195, Monday to Friday 8am–5pm) expects:

• Four separate PDFs emailed to bfdfiresafetyplan@burnaby.ca: the City’s application form, the fire safety plan itself, the vital information form, and a pre-incident plan.
• A pre-incident plan as a separate document. It is loaded onto the fire apparatus computers so the incident commander can see the site layout, access points, connections, and hazardous materials before the truck stops. Few other municipalities require this.
• Burnaby’s own symbol set on every drawing, in both the fire safety plan and the pre-incident plan. Drawings that use another city’s symbols come back for revision.
• A Fire Safety Plan Box at the building: padlock type, spare lock inside, labelled “Fire Safety Plan” on the front, in a location confirmed with the department before it is installed.
• The Appointed Fire Safety Director form, completed after training and signed by the plan designer.
• Payment before review. The department does not open the file until the fee is paid, by cheque, mailed or dropped at Sperling Avenue.

The review fee is $171.15 for buildings of six storeys and under and $342.30 for seven storeys and above, GST included. Revisions to an existing plan are free when the same company that prepared it submits them within ten years, which is one reason to choose your plan provider carefully. Our guide to Burnaby fire safety plan requirements walks through each step.

The buildings we plan for in Burnaby

Burnaby has more high-rise residential towers than any city in BC outside Vancouver, and its building stock splits cleanly by neighbourhood. Since 2003 we have prepared more than 1,000 fire safety plans across BC; the Burnaby work looks like this:

• Metrotown and Brentwood concrete towers. Twenty to thirty storeys, 150 to 200 suites, two or three underground parkade levels with recreation rooms, exercise rooms, and lockers, a two-stage alarm with public address and firefighters’ telephone, an emergency generator, a fire pump, firefighter elevators, and wet and dry sprinkler systems. Many were built in the late 1980s and 90s and still carry their original panels. The 26-storey Halifax Street tower is typical of what the plan has to document.
• Wood-frame stratas along Burlington Avenue, Maywood Street, and the Edmonds area. Three- and four-storey buildings from the 1970s to 90s with 20 to 40 suites, a single-stage Mircom or Edwards alarm, and emergency lighting on battery packs. See the Burlington Avenue strata case study.
• Mixed-use commercial along Kingsway and at Market Crossing. Retail and offices over a shared parkade, sometimes with residential above, a Simplex two-stage system, sprinklers and standpipes, pre-action systems for server rooms, and kitchen suppression for restaurant tenants. HighGate Village on Kingsway shows how many systems one plan can carry.
• Industrial and warehouse buildings in Big Bend, Lake City, and along Still Creek, plus restaurants, bank branches, and construction sites across the city, where the pre-incident plan and hazardous materials inventory matter most to the responding crews.

Keeping the plan current

Burnaby enforces through its fire inspections. If an inspector flags a missing or outdated plan, you receive a notice and must submit a letter of intent from a qualified company before the re-inspection date; missing that date escalates the file. Beyond notices, the plan should be reviewed annually and updated when the Fire Safety Director, property manager, service contractors, or building systems change. Under the 2026 BC Fire Safety Act, an outdated plan is an owner-liability issue, not a paperwork gap. Name and contact updates on plans we have written are free.

How it works with GetFirePlan

1. Firm quote in one business day, one flat fee, and a letter of intent the same day if you are under a notice. See what a fire safety plan costs in BC.
2. Site visit to confirm exits, equipment, and layout, and to photograph every system.
3. Draft in 5–7 business days: CAD drawings in Burnaby’s symbol set, the full plan, the vital information form, and the pre-incident plan, sent to you for review first.
4. Submission to Burnaby Fire Department as the four required PDFs, any revisions they ask for at no extra charge, and delivery of the accepted plan in print and PDF with plaques and a compliant Fire Safety Plan Box if you need one.

Approval is guaranteed. If Burnaby Fire Department rejects a plan we prepared, we revise it until it is accepted.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a separate pre-incident plan?
Yes. Burnaby treats it as a distinct document that goes into the fire apparatus computer, and the submission is incomplete without it. We prepare it as part of every Burnaby plan.

We just finished a renovation. How long do we have?
Sixty days from completion, under Section 23 of Fire Services Bylaw No. 11860. Call us before the work wraps up.

What does Burnaby charge to review a plan?
$171.15 for six storeys and under, $342.30 for seven and above, GST included. Revisions by the same company within ten years are free.

Our building already has a plan box. Is that enough?
Only if it meets the current spec: padlock type, spare lock inside, labelled on the front, in a location the department has confirmed. We check it during the site visit.

Can you handle a construction fire safety plan for a Burnaby job site?
Yes. Every construction and demolition project in Burnaby needs one; our construction division at constructionfiresafetyplans.ca handles those. Request a quote and we reply within one business day.