Fire Safety Plan Vancouver

Who needs a fire safety plan in Vancouver

Vancouver is the one city in BC that writes its own fire code. The Vancouver Fire By-law No. 14419 is read together with the 2024 BC Fire Code, and it puts the responsibility for fire safety squarely on the building owner. The by-law’s definition of “owner” is wider than most people expect: it includes the registered owner, a lessee or sublessee, and anyone holding an agreement for sale and purchase. If you manage, lease, or are buying a building, the plan is your problem.

The City’s rule is simple: every building with a fire alarm system must have a fire safety plan. Section 2.8 of the BC Fire Code adds the rest of the list, including assembly and care occupancies, high buildings, buildings with sprinkler or standpipe systems, and sites where dangerous goods are stored. In practice that covers almost every strata, rental apartment, office, hotel, restaurant, school, daycare, place of worship, warehouse, and shopping strip in the city.

What Vancouver Fire Rescue Services checks

Plans are reviewed by the Fire Prevention office of Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (Community Safety & Risk Reduction Division, 600–575 West 8th Avenue, frcsl@vancouver.ca, Monday to Friday 8:30am–4:30pm). Inspectors look for a current plan in the fire safety plan box at the main entrance, and they read it. A plan that names a property manager who left two years ago, or shows a fire alarm panel that has since been replaced, is a deficiency, and it can come back as a Notice of Violation.

The City lists four things a Vancouver plan must include: locations and instructions for building services, building contact information, training and maintenance schedules, and a place to record occupants who need extra assistance in an evacuation. VFRS expects those to be delivered as:

• A named Fire Safety Director and Deputy, with signed appointment letters, trained in the plan before they take on the role (BC Fire Code 2.8.1.2).
• A complete fire protection inventory: alarm panel make and model, pull stations, detectors, sprinkler type and shut-off, standpipe connections, extinguishers, emergency lighting, gas and electrical shut-offs, and the monitoring company’s account number.
• Scaled CAD floor plans for every level showing exit routes, equipment, assembly areas, and hazard rooms. Hand sketches are returned.
• Evacuation procedures for occupants and for staff, including people who cannot use stairs. High buildings also need floor warden duties, area-of-refuge procedures, and the firefighters’ telephone and public address locations.
• The 2024 BC Fire Code additions: a Statement of Currency, a Master Inspection, Testing and Maintenance Schedule, a Master Training Schedule, and a Hot Work policy. Plans written before 2024 usually do not have these.

Our guide to Vancouver fire safety plan requirements in 2026 goes through each item in detail.

The buildings we plan for in Vancouver

Vancouver’s building stock is older and more varied than the suburbs’, and the plan has to match the building. Since 2003 we have prepared more than 1,000 fire safety plans across BC, and the Vancouver work falls into a few recognizable types:

• Wood-frame walk-ups in the West End, Kitsilano, and Fairview. Three-storey buildings from the 1960s and 70s, often with a single-stage alarm that is not monitored, partial sprinkler coverage in the parkade only, and an elevator without automatic recall. The plan has to explain how the building actually works, not how a new one would. Our Oak Street and Cypress Street case studies are typical.
• Concrete residential towers downtown, in the West End, and around False Creek. Multiple underground parking levels, a diesel emergency generator with fuel stored on site, a fire pump, standpipes on every floor, dry sprinklers in the parkade and garbage chute, elevator recall, and a firefighters’ telephone and PA system run from the central alarm and control facility. These plans run past 100 pages because every one of those systems needs a location, a sequence of operation, and a service contractor. See the 18-storey Jervis Street project.
• Commercial strips and medical offices along Main Street, Broadway, and Kingsway. Several tenants on one alarm panel, kitchen suppression tied into the alarm, and a lot of exits for a small footprint. The Main Street strip and the Regent Medical Building, written to the 2024 code, show the difference.
• Hotels, restaurants, retail, and schools across the city, where the occupant procedures and staff training schedule matter as much as the drawings. Our commercial fire safety plan page covers those in more depth.

Keeping a Vancouver plan current

Acceptance is not the end of it. The City expects the plan to be reviewed regularly and updated whenever the supervisory staff, contractors, or building systems change. Fire drills are required at least once a year, and more often for some occupancies (BC Fire Code 2.8.3.2); the City suggests scheduling them after hours so shift staff are covered. Under the 2026 BC Fire Safety Act, an out-of-date plan is no longer a paperwork gap. It is an owner-liability issue with your name on it. We update plans we have written at no charge for name and contact changes, and we quote system changes as a fixed price.

How it works with GetFirePlan

1. Firm quote in one business day, based on building type and size. One flat fee, no hourly billing. See what a fire safety plan costs in BC.
2. Site visit to confirm exits, equipment, and layout, and to photograph every fire protection system.
3. Draft in 5–7 business days: CAD drawings and the full written plan, sent to you for review before anything goes to the City.
4. Submission to Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, any revisions they request at no extra charge, and delivery of the accepted plan in print and PDF with wall plaques and a fire safety plan box if you need one.

Approval is guaranteed. If VFRS rejects a plan we prepared, we revise it until it is accepted.

Frequently asked questions

Does Vancouver use the BC Fire Code or its own code?
Both. The Vancouver Fire By-law No. 14419 applies inside city limits and is read with the 2024 BC Fire Code. A plan accepted in Burnaby or Richmond is not automatically accepted in Vancouver; VFRS reviews it independently.

How long does VFRS take to accept a plan?
It depends on their workload. Plans that are complete on the first pass move fastest, which is why we send you a full draft before submitting.

We received a Notice of Violation for our fire safety plan. How fast can you help?
Call us with the notice in hand. Buildings under a compliance deadline are prioritized and we can usually have a draft to you within the week.

Is there a free template I can use?
The City publishes one, and we offer a fire safety plan template and a compliance checklist. The drawings are the part owners cannot do themselves: VFRS wants scaled CAD floor plans for every level.

How much does a fire safety plan cost in Vancouver?
It depends on building size and type. Walk-ups start at a few hundred dollars; concrete towers with multiple systems cost more. Request a quote and we reply within one business day.