Strip malls are everywhere in Surrey. A row of shops, a couple of restaurants, maybe a gas station on the end — and every one of them needs a fire safety plan. We recently completed one for a commercial plaza on 108th Avenue in Surrey, and it’s a perfect example of why these properties need more than a template plan.
What Makes a Strip Mall Fire Safety Plan Different
A strip mall isn’t just one business — it’s multiple tenants sharing a building, and each one brings its own fire risks. This property on 108th Avenue has commercial retail units, a restaurant with a commercial kitchen, and a gas station with underground fuel tanks. That’s three completely different hazard profiles under one roof.
A residential building might have a fire alarm system doing most of the heavy lifting. This strip mall? No fire alarm system at all. That’s common for single-storey commercial buildings of this era — which means the fire safety plan has to work harder. Every tenant, every employee needs to know what to do, because there’s no alarm bell doing it for them.
Gas Station + Restaurant = Serious Hazardous Materials Planning
This was one of the more complex fire safety plans we’ve done recently, and the gas station is a big reason why. The property has three in-ground gasoline tanks on the east side, each holding approximately 35,000 litres of fuel, plus a caged propane storage area. That’s well over 100,000 litres of flammable material on site.
The plan documents the emergency fuel shutoff procedures — there’s an emergency shutdown button inside the convenience store that cuts all power to the fuel dispensers. Every gas station employee needs to know where that button is and when to hit it.
Then there’s the restaurant unit with a commercial cooking operation. That means a kitchen fire suppression system — an automatic hood suppression system that discharges chemicals directly onto the cooking surface, plus a K-class fire extinguisher specifically rated for cooking oil and grease fires. Regular ABC extinguishers won’t cut it in a commercial kitchen.
What We Included in This Plan
For a multi-tenant commercial property like this, the fire safety plan has to be thorough. Here’s what ours covered:
- CAD site plan and floor plan drawings — showing every fire extinguisher location, electrical panel, gas shutoff, water shutoff, fire exits, and hazardous material storage areas
- Hazardous materials documentation — underground fuel tanks, propane cage, and emergency shutdown procedures
- Kitchen fire suppression system — the hood suppression system, manual pull station, and K-class extinguisher locations
- Fire Safety Director and Deputy appointments — designated personnel available 24 hours
- Fire department access routes — access via both 160th Street and 108th Avenue
- Fire hydrant mapping — two city hydrants within close proximity of the building
- Emergency lighting — battery-powered units throughout the building for power failure situations
- Fire door locations — at all required fire separations, documented to never be wedged open
- Roof access location — for fire department access via the corridor by the electrical room
- Inspection checklists — daily, monthly, and annual inspection schedules
Why Commercial Property Managers Need to Pay Attention
If you manage a strip mall or commercial plaza in Surrey, your fire safety plan needs to account for every tenant — not just the building shell. When a restaurant moves in where a dry cleaner used to be, the fire risks change completely. Kitchen suppression systems, different extinguisher types, new hazardous materials — the plan needs to reflect what’s actually happening in the space today.
The Surrey Fire Department requires all changes to be approved before they’re incorporated into the existing plan. That means whenever a tenant changes, you need to update your fire safety plan. Not eventually — before they open.
Related case study: For a construction site example, see our Construction Fire Safety Plan Surrey project on Harvie Road — a different type of plan (CFSP under BC Fire Code Section 5.6), same Surrey Fire Service approval process.
Need a Fire Safety Plan for Your Commercial Property?
Whether it’s a single retail unit or a multi-tenant strip mall with a gas station, we build fire safety plans that the Surrey Fire Department approves — guaranteed. We handle the site visit, the CAD drawings, every detail of the documentation, and the submission.
One flat fee. Approval guaranteed or your money back. Free updates for Fire Safety Director changes and service contractor contact updates.
Call us at 778-574-2895 or email contactus@getfireplan.com to get your fire safety plan started.