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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session
fire protection systems; inspections
Purpose
Prescribes requirements related to inspections of smoke and fire dampers.
Background
The Office of the State Fire Marshal (Office) is established within the Department of Forestry and Fire Management to promote public health and safety and to reduce hazards to life, limb and property. The duties of the Office include assisting in the enforcement of state laws and ordinances of cities and counties relating to fire prevention and fire protection.
Current statue allows a municipality to enact the provisions of a code or public record which includes the ability to adopt fire codes or ordinances to provide sufficient fire access and fire routes that ensure public health and safety. Code includes any building code, electrical wiring code or fire prevention code (A.R.S. Title 9, Chapter 7, Article 1).
Current statute allows, in any county that has adopted zoning, the county board of supervisors (county BOS) to adopt and enforce, for the unincorporated areas of the county, a building code and other related codes to regulate the quality of all aspects of construction of buildings or structures with outlined exemptions. The county BOS may adopt a fire prevention code in the unincorporated areas of the county in which a fire district has not adopted a nationally recognized fire code, and the adopted fire prevention code must remain in effect until a fire district is established and adopts a code applicable within the boundaries of the district (A.R.S. § 11-861).
Fire code includes the international fire code, however denominated (A.R.S. §§ 9-801 and 11-861).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires inspections of smoke and fire dampers within a fire protection system carried out pursuant to a building or fire code adopted by a city, town or county to be performed in accordance with the standards established by a nationally recognized standards developing organization.
2. Allows, at the request of the local authority responsible for the inspections, the State Forester and State Fire Marshal to provide certified inspectors and other resources to assist with the fire and smoke damper inspections.
3. Requires, by January 1, 2025, each city, town or county that has adopted a fire code to adopt a regulation to enforce the fire and smoke dampener inspection requirements.
4. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
GOV 1/24/24 DPA 8-0-1-0
3rd Read 2/5/24 47-10-0-0-3
Prepared by Senate Research
March 18, 2024
JT/MA/slp