Fire Safety Plan Delta

Who needs a fire safety plan in Delta

Delta enforces the BC Fire Code through the Delta Fire Regulation Bylaw No. 5855. Under Section 2.8 of the Fire Code a plan is required in every building with a fire alarm system, in assembly and care occupancies, in high buildings, where sprinkler or standpipe systems are installed, and where dangerous goods are stored or handled. In Delta that last clause does a lot of work: Annacis Island and Tilbury hold some of the largest warehouse, food-processing, and distribution buildings in the province, and almost every one of them stores something the Code cares about.

The bylaw adds two Delta-specific rules. The plan must be submitted to Delta Fire & Emergency Services for approval on a form and diagram template acceptable to the Fire Chief, not in whatever format the owner prefers. And owners must review the plan every year and submit any updates to the department, and must notify the department even when there are no changes. A plan that was approved once and never touched again does not satisfy Delta.

How Delta Fire & Emergency Services reviews a plan

Reviews run through the department’s Fire Prevention division. Delta charges for the review under its Consolidated Fees and Charges Bylaw, and the bylaw lets the City add an unpaid fee to the property’s taxes after 30 days, so the fee is paid with the submission. What the reviewers look for:

• The department’s template and diagram format, so every Delta plan reads the same way to a crew arriving at 3am.
• A named Fire Safety Director and Deputy with appointment letters, trained in the plan before they take on the role.
• A complete fire protection inventory: alarm panel make and model, monitoring company and account, sprinkler and standpipe type and shut-offs, extinguishers, emergency lighting, and gas and electrical shut-offs.
• Scaled CAD drawings for every level showing exits, equipment, fire department connections and access routes, assembly areas, and hazard rooms.
• Dangerous goods documented by name, quantity, and location, which for an Annacis Island warehouse is often the longest section of the plan.
• Fire drills at least once a year under BC Fire Code 2.8.3.2, with the schedule and records in the plan.

The buildings we plan for in Delta

Delta is three communities and two industrial zones, and the plans look different in each. Since 2003 we have prepared more than 1,000 fire safety plans across BC; our Delta work runs to five types:

• Annacis Island and Tilbury industrial along Derwent Way, Cliveden Avenue, Fraser View Place, Honeyman Street, 72nd Street, and River Road: tilt-up and steel warehouses, distribution centres, food processors, and multi-tenant industrial strata with racked storage, forklift charging, and dangerous goods inventories. These plans are built around the hazardous materials schedule and fire department access.
• Ladner Village along 48th Avenue, 51st and 53rd Streets, 10th Avenue, and Ladner Trunk Road: two- and three-storey mixed-use buildings, restaurants, medical offices, seniors’ housing, and churches.
• Tsawwassen along 56th Street, Highway 17, and the Tsawwassen Drive corridor: retail centres, the ferry-terminal commercial strip, care homes, and the newer townhouse and apartment developments.
• North Delta along Scott Road and 72nd Avenue: larger rental apartment buildings, strata complexes with 100 to 200 units, schools, and the commercial strip, where the annual review and notification rule is easiest to miss.
• Restaurants, bank branches, and retail across all three communities, where a tenant plan has to sit inside the base building’s plan.

Our commercial fire safety plan page covers restaurants, retail, and offices in more depth.

Keeping a Delta plan current

Delta’s annual rule is the one to put in the calendar: review the plan every year, send the department the update if anything changed, and tell them if nothing did. Changes to the Fire Safety Director, property manager, monitoring or service contractors, tenant mix, or dangerous goods all count. Delta’s fire inspectors check for a current, approved plan on site. Under the 2026 BC Fire Safety Act an out-of-date plan is an owner-liability issue, not a paperwork gap. Name and contact updates on plans we have written are free, and we send the annual notification for you.

How it works with GetFirePlan

1. Firm quote in one business day, one flat fee. See what a fire safety plan costs in BC.
2. Site visit to confirm exits, equipment, shut-offs, dangerous goods, and layout, and to photograph every fire protection system.
3. Draft in 5–7 business days: CAD drawings and the full plan in Delta’s template format, sent to you for review before submission.
4. Submission to Delta Fire & Emergency Services with the review fee, any revisions they request at no extra charge, and delivery of the approved plan in print and PDF with wall plaques and a fire safety plan box if you need one.

Approval is guaranteed. If Delta Fire & Emergency Services rejects a plan we prepared, we revise it until it is accepted.

Frequently asked questions

Nothing has changed in our building this year. Do we still have to contact Delta?
Yes. The bylaw requires the owner to review the plan annually and notify Delta Fire & Emergency Services even when there are no updates. We handle that notification for plans we maintain.

What does Delta charge to review a plan?
The fee is set in Delta’s Consolidated Fees and Charges Bylaw and changes with each update. We confirm the current amount at submission and include it in your quote.

Our warehouse stores pallets of cleaning products and propane cylinders. Is that “dangerous goods”?
Very likely. Flammable and combustible liquids, compressed gases, and oxidizers all trigger the storage provisions of the Fire Code. The plan lists them by name, quantity, and location so the crews know before they enter.

Can one plan cover our multi-tenant industrial building?
Usually one building plan with a section for each tenant’s hazards, exits, and contacts. We confirm the structure during the site visit.

Do you handle construction fire safety plans in Delta?
Yes. Our construction division at constructionfiresafetyplans.ca prepares those. Request a quote and we reply within one business day.