The phrase State Fire Marshal causes more confusion in Georgia than almost any other code term. Georgia does not have a single agency called the State Fire Marshal in the way Florida does. The function lives inside the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire, specifically in the Safety Fire Division. That division enforces O.C.G.A. Title 25 statewide and conducts plan review for the categories of facilities the General Assembly has designated as state-jurisdictional. Knowing whether your project falls inside or outside that jurisdiction is the difference between a clean permit and a six-week delay. This guide lays out the trigger list, the submittal package, and the rejection patterns JB Technologies sees most often.
What the State Fire Marshal actually is
The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire is a constitutional office, and its Safety Fire Division houses what most people call the State Fire Marshal. The Division enforces the Rules and Regulations of the Safety Fire Commissioner (Chapter 120-3 of the Georgia Administrative Code) and conducts plan review, inspection, and licensing functions across the state.
Importantly, the Safety Fire Division does not have jurisdiction over every commercial building in Georgia. Most strip-center retail, small office build-outs, and routine warehouse projects are reviewed only by the local AHJ (city or county fire marshal). The Safety Fire Division steps in when a facility falls into one of the categories the legislature has assigned to state-level review.
Facility types that trigger state plan review
Under O.C.G.A. Title 25 and Rule 120-3-3-.05, the following facility types require plan review and inspection by the Safety Fire Division regardless of where they are located in Georgia:
- Hospitals, nursing homes, and ambulatory healthcare facilities. These are state-jurisdictional because they are also licensed by the Department of Community Health, and the fire safety review is coordinated with that licensing.
- Personal care homes and assisted living communities above the size threshold defined in 120-3-3.
- Day care centers licensed by the Department of Early Care and Learning (Bright from the Start).
- Schools. Public and private K-12 schools fall under state plan review through the Safety Fire Division working in coordination with the Georgia Department of Education facilities office.
- Colleges, universities, and private postsecondary institutions for new construction and major renovations.
- State-owned and state-leased buildings. Any facility on state property goes through Safety Fire Division review.
- Hotels and motels above defined thresholds (typically by floor count or by total guest room count).
- Large assembly occupancies. Buildings classified as Assembly A-1 through A-5 above a defined occupant load.
- High-rise buildings by NFPA 101 definition (occupied floors more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access).
- Penal institutions and detention facilities.
For any of those categories, fire alarm plans must be submitted to the Safety Fire Division in addition to the local AHJ. The state review is technical, focused on code compliance, while the local AHJ review is operational, focused on permitting and inspection coordination.
How state review interacts with local AHJ permits
A common owner misunderstanding is that state plan review replaces local review. It does not. The two run in parallel.
Sequence for a state-jurisdictional project:
- Designer produces stamped fire alarm drawings, battery calcs, voltage-drop calcs, and a sequence-of-operations matrix.
- The same package is submitted to the Safety Fire Division electronically (through the OCI plan review portal) and to the local AHJ (paper or electronic depending on the jurisdiction).
- Both reviewers issue comments. State comments are typically technical (Chapter 17 detection coverage, Chapter 18 candela spacing, Chapter 23 protected-premises wiring topology). Local comments are typically operational (knox box location, fire department connection access, hydrant flow).
- Designer revises and resubmits to both.
- State issues a plan-review approval letter; local issues a permit.
- Installation proceeds.
- Local AHJ inspects rough-in and final.
- Acceptance testing per NFPA 72 Chapter 14 is witnessed by local AHJ; state generally relies on the local inspection record.
Skipping the state submittal on a state-jurisdictional project is a classic error. Local permits issued without state plan review on a hospital or school are voidable, and the owner can be required to redo the work to reach state compliance.
What the state submittal package must contain
The Safety Fire Division publishes its plan review submittal requirements on the OCI website. For a commercial fire alarm project, the package generally includes:
- Cover sheet with project address, occupancy classification, applicable codes (NFPA 72 2022 Edition, NFPA 101 2024 Edition, IFC 2018 with Georgia amendments), and designer information.
- Floor plans showing all initiating devices, notification appliances, control units, power supplies, annunciators, and circuit routing. Plans must show device addresses for addressable systems.
- Riser diagram showing the full system topology, circuit classification (Class A, B, or X per NFPA 72 Chapter 12), and any survivable pathway requirements.
- Battery calculations showing 24-hour standby plus 5- or 15-minute alarm load per NFPA 72 Chapter 10, with manufacturer data sheets attached.
- Voltage-drop calculations for each notification appliance circuit, demonstrating the end-of-line device receives within 16 percent of rated voltage at full alarm load.
- Sequence-of-operations matrix showing input-to-output relationships across the system.
- Device data sheets for every model number on the plan, with UL listing and FM approval references.
- Contractor license documentation showing a Georgia low-voltage fire alarm contractor license.
- Designer credentials. NICET Level III or IV in Fire Alarm Systems is the de facto Georgia standard for the responsible designer.
Incomplete submittals are returned without review, and the resubmit clock restarts.
Turnaround times
Safety Fire Division turnaround varies with volume, but the typical pattern is:
- Initial review: 15 to 30 business days from receipt of a complete submittal.
- Revision review: 10 to 20 business days from resubmittal.
- Expedited review: Available on a case-by-case basis for time-critical projects, generally requires a written request and Division concurrence.
Project schedules that assume state plan review takes one week routinely slip. JB Technologies plans on six to ten weeks from first submittal to plan-review approval as a working estimate, longer for complex hospitals or multi-building campuses.
Common rejection reasons in commercial fire alarm plan review
The same handful of issues drive most state-level rejections:
- Battery calcs that do not match the as-designed load. Designers add devices during plan revisions but forget to update the battery worksheet. Reviewers catch the mismatch immediately.
- Notification appliance candela ratings missing or insufficient. NFPA 72 Chapter 18 spacing tables drive minimum candela by room geometry. Plans that show generic "strobe" symbols without candela values get rejected.
- Voltage-drop calcs absent or run from the wrong power-supply voltage. Calculations must start from the actual nominal output of the power supply under alarm load, not 24 V flat.
- Sequence of operations missing waterflow, tamper, or duct detector inputs. Especially common on healthcare and assembly occupancies where the matrix has to cover many inputs.
- Class B circuit on an occupancy that requires Class A. NFPA 72 Chapter 23 and NFPA 101 occupancy chapters together drive when survivable pathways are required.
- Wrong NFPA 72 edition cited. Plans referencing 2019 or 2016 are rejected without further review.
- Mass notification or emergency communications system requirements addressed under fire alarm chapters instead of Chapter 24. Schools and assembly occupancies often need both an alarm and an ECS; the Chapter 24 risk analysis must be in the package if ECS is in scope.
- Missing contractor license number on the cover sheet.
Most of those are avoidable with a checklist applied before submittal. JB Technologies runs a pre-submittal QC review on every state-jurisdictional fire alarm package to catch them in-house.
A note on contractor licensing
Georgia requires fire alarm work to be performed by a licensed low-voltage contractor with a fire alarm specialty designation, issued through the State Construction Industry Licensing Board. The license number must appear on plans, permits, and the NFPA 72 record of completion. Owners selecting a contractor for a state-jurisdictional project should verify the license is current and includes the fire alarm specialty, not just a general low-voltage license.
Inspections after acceptance
State plan review approval is the front end of the process. The back end is inspection during installation and acceptance testing. The Safety Fire Division does not typically witness every commercial fire alarm acceptance test directly; that function is generally delegated to the local AHJ. The Division does, however, retain authority to inspect state-jurisdictional facilities at any time and to require demonstration of code compliance.
For a hospital, the practical inspection cadence is:
- Rough-in inspection by the local AHJ during installation.
- Acceptance test witnessed by the local AHJ, following NFPA 72 (2022) Chapter 14 protocols.
- NFPA 72 record of completion signed by the contractor and submitted to the AHJ.
- Annual inspection and testing under NFPA 72 Chapter 14, performed by a Georgia-licensed contractor, with records retained on site.
- State follow-up inspection as part of healthcare facility licensure renewals, coordinated with the Department of Community Health.
Schools follow a similar cadence with Department of Education facility coordination instead of DCH.
Coordination with other state codes
A state-jurisdictional fire alarm project rarely sits alone. It typically intersects with:
- Sprinkler plan review. Waterflow and tamper inputs to the fire alarm panel must coordinate with the sprinkler design and approval.
- Smoke control plan review. Atriums, high-rise, and large assembly occupancies often require dedicated smoke control plans that integrate with the fire alarm sequence.
- Generator and emergency power review. NFPA 110 (2025 Edition) covers emergency and standby power; the fire alarm secondary power calc must align with the generator load schedule.
- Healthcare facility licensure. For hospitals and nursing homes, the Department of Community Health licensure inspection covers fire alarm function as part of life safety review.
- Department of Education facility approval. For new K-12 construction, DOE facility planning reviews the overall facility plan, with fire alarm and ECS scope flowing through state plan review.
Designers and owners who treat fire alarm as a stand-alone scope on a state-jurisdictional project miss these intersections. JB Technologies coordinates fire alarm scope with the larger life-safety package on hospitals, schools, and high-rise occupancies from programming through final inspection.
For state-jurisdictional commercial fire alarm projects, call (770) 637-2094 or reach JB Technologies at sales@jbtecknologies.com. We carry the Georgia low-voltage fire alarm license and have run plan submittals through the Safety Fire Division on hospitals, schools, and high-rise occupancies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Georgia have a single State Fire Marshal agency?
Not in the way some states do. The function lives inside the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire, specifically its Safety Fire Division, which enforces O.C.G.A. Title 25 statewide and conducts plan review for the facility categories the General Assembly has designated as state-jurisdictional.
Which types of buildings require Georgia State Fire Marshal plan review?
Hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory healthcare facilities, personal care homes and assisted living above a size threshold, licensed day care centers, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, state-owned or state-leased buildings, hotels and motels above defined thresholds, large assembly occupancies, high-rise buildings, and penal institutions all trigger Safety Fire Division review under O.C.G.A. Title 25 and Rule 120-3-3-.05.
Does state plan review replace the local AHJ permit?
No. The two run in parallel rather than one replacing the other. Skipping the state submittal on a state-jurisdictional project, a hospital or school for example, is a common error, and local permits issued without the required state plan review can be voidable.
How long does Safety Fire Division plan review typically take?
Initial review typically runs 15 to 30 business days from a complete submittal, with revision review running another 10 to 20 business days. Expedited review is available case by case for time-critical projects with Division concurrence. Realistic project planning budgets six to ten weeks from first submittal to approval.
What is the single most common reason a state fire alarm submittal gets rejected?
Battery calculations that do not match the as-designed device load are the most frequent issue, typically because a designer added devices during a plan revision but did not update the battery worksheet. Missing candela ratings, incorrect voltage-drop assumptions, and citing the wrong NFPA 72 edition are also frequent rejection reasons.
Need help applying this to your Georgia project?
- Licensed Georgia Fire Alarm Contractor, NICET-certified technicians
- Fire-Lite (Honeywell) and Kidde Commercial authorized installer
- NFPA 72 (2022 Edition, GA-adopted) design, install, test, and ITM
- Local AHJ submittals: plan review, rough-in, pre-test, acceptance
- NFPA 72 Record of Completion, battery and voltage-drop calcs
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