Any building with three (3) or more units is considered a multifamily apartment building. Apartment-style condominiums are exempt from the requirements, regardless of the number of leased units, however we encourage all multifamily building HOAs, landlords, or other resident boards to have an emergency safety plan.

All multifamily rental apartments are required to have emergency safety plans. High-rise, health care, assembly, childcare, special amusement buildings, hotels, dormitories, and schools must have emergency action plans that contain evacuation plans. While multifamily apartments are required to use the template provided by DPS, all other occupancies are encouraged to use it to develop their emergency action plans. Emergency safety plans, evacuation plans, and action plans may all be submitted as an ESP to be reviewed by DPS FCC for compliance with the Fire Code.

A flat fee of $102.74 will be charged to the applicant as part of the FCC permit, per review of the ESP. Resubmittals and addenda will also be charged per review.

A best practice guide and template has been developed to assist landlords or their designee(s) in creating the ESP. Links to those documents can be found in the steps below.

For buildings that make more than ten (10) fire-related emergency calls to 911 in a calendar year, a plan addendum (addition) is required. You will be notified by DPS FCC if you are required to provide an addendum. The template for the addendum can be found in the steps below.

Penalties for not submitting an ESP may include denial of the building’s Fire Code Compliance permit and a civil citation with a fine and mandatory court appearance. A civil citation and fine may be given every day the building is out of compliance.