Why do I need a Fire Safety Plan in Ontario?

If you own or manage a building with a fire alarm system in Ontario, you are legally required to have an approved Fire Safety Plan under the Ontario Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07), Section 2.8. This applies to apartment and condo buildings, commercial offices, retail, restaurants, and warehouses across Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, and Etobicoke. Without an approved plan on site, you risk fire department orders, fines, and delays getting occupancy.

Which buildings actually need a Fire Safety Plan?

The Ontario Fire Code requires a Fire Safety Plan for most buildings with a fire alarm system, plus all assembly occupancies such as restaurants and banquet halls, care occupancies such as retirement and long term care homes, high buildings, and many industrial and storage occupancies. If you are not sure where your building in the GTA falls, send us the details and we will confirm in plain language, at no cost.

What is changing with Ontario fire safety requirements in 2026?

Ontario updates the Fire Code on a regular cycle, and recent changes, including O. Reg. 87/25, mean a plan that was approved a few years ago may no longer meet current requirements. Enforcement is tightening across the GTA at the same time. We review your existing Fire Safety Plan against the current Ontario Fire Code, flag anything out of date, and bring it back into compliance before it becomes a problem with the fire department.

How long does it take to get a Fire Safety Plan approved?

It depends on the size and complexity of your building and your local fire department's review queue, but we are built for speed. Because we know exactly what Toronto Fire Services, Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services, and the other GTA departments look for, our submissions rarely come back for corrections. That is what saves you the weeks of back and forth most owners run into.

Do I need a Fire Safety Plan for a construction or demolition project?

Yes. The Ontario Fire Code (Part 5) requires fire safety measures and a plan for construction and demolition sites before and during the work. We create site specific plans covering fire crew access, hot work controls, standpipe provisions, and muster points for projects across Toronto, Etobicoke, Vaughan, and the wider GTA.

How often do I need to review my Fire Safety Plan?

The Ontario Fire Code requires your plan to be reviewed at least once every 12 months, and updated right away whenever you renovate, change the building's use, or change the layout. We offer annual review packages for property managers and condo boards across the GTA, so your plans never lapse and you are not scrambling the week before an inspection.

We are applying for an AGCO liquor licence. What fire requirements apply?

Before the AGCO issues a liquor licence, your municipality has to confirm your space is safe, and fire approval is a core part of that sign off. For restaurants and bars in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, and across the GTA, that usually means an approved Fire Safety Plan, a posted occupant load, clear exiting, and confirmation your fire alarm and suppression systems are in good standing. We prepare the documents and handle the fire side so your licence is not held up.

I manage multiple buildings. Can you handle a whole portfolio?

Yes, this is a big part of what we do. Property managers carry fire safety responsibility across a portfolio, where every building has its own plan, its own annual review date, and its own fire department jurisdiction. We standardize your plans, track every review date, and give you one point of contact for all of your sites across Toronto and the GTA, so nothing slips through the cracks.

What areas do you serve?

We are based in the Greater Toronto Area and serve building owners and managers across Toronto (Downtown, North York, Scarborough, and Etobicoke), Peel (Mississauga and Brampton), York Region (Markham, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill), and the wider GTA and Southern Ontario.

What is included in your Fire Safety Plan package?

Our Ontario Fire Safety Plan package is built to meet the Ontario Fire Code and your local fire department's requirements. You receive: an on site audit of your fire alarm, sprinkler, extinguisher, and exit systems; a custom site specific plan written to current Ontario Fire Code standards, never a generic template; clear building diagrams showing exits, equipment, and shut offs; full fire department submission and communication with the Chief Fire Official until it is approved; and digital and printed copies of the approved plan for your fire safety plan box and your records.

What is the process for getting a Fire Safety Plan?

We keep it simple, four steps. First, a site visit to map your fire safety equipment and any hazards. Second, drafting, where our team writes the plan and prepares the diagrams. Third, submission to your local fire department's plan review. Fourth, approval and delivery, where once it is approved we deliver the official plan ready to post on site. Call us to get started.

Dry Sprinkler System Air Compressor Maintenance: What Toronto Building Owners Should Know

3 days ago
5 min read

A sprinkler air compressor is easy to walk past. It sits in the corner of a mechanical room, kicks on now and then, and gets ignored for years at a time. But if your building has a dry pipe sprinkler system, that air compressor is the part holding the whole thing in a ready state. When it stops doing its job quietly, the problems it creates are anything but quiet.

Dry systems are everywhere in Toronto and the GTA. Parking garages, loading docks, unheated warehouses, exterior canopies, attic spaces, and cold storage all run dry sprinklers because the pipes would freeze solid if they held water through an Ontario winter. The compressor is what keeps those dry systems honest.

How a dry system works, and where the compressor fits

A wet sprinkler system has water sitting in the pipes, ready to go. You cannot do that in a space that drops below freezing, so a dry system fills the pipes with pressurized air instead. That air pushes down on a dry pipe valve and holds back the water supply waiting on the other side.

When a fire opens a sprinkler head, the air bleeds out of the pipes. Pressure drops, the dry pipe valve trips, and water rushes in to feed the open head. Simple idea, but it only works if the air pressure is there in the first place. That is the compressor's whole reason for existing. It keeps the system charged with supervisory air so the valve stays shut until it is actually needed.

Air compressor feeding a dry pipe sprinkler system

What the compressor is actually supposed to do

Two jobs, really. First, hold the system at its set air pressure, usually a value tied to the dry pipe valve, often around 20 psi above the pressure that would trip the valve. Second, and this is the one people forget, refill the system fast enough after it loses air.

The requirement here is specific. When a dry system loses pressure, the air supply has to bring it back to normal within 30 minutes, or 60 minutes for the very cold spaces below roughly minus 15 Celsius. That refill time matters because every time the system loses air, whether from a small repair, a minor leak, or a trip, the valve is closer to letting go. A compressor that cannot keep up is a compressor that is failing the one test that counts.

The number one warning sign: a compressor that won't stop running

If you stand next to the unit and it cycles on every few minutes, something is wrong. A healthy dry system holds air. The compressor should top it up occasionally and then sit quiet for a long stretch.

Short-cycling almost always means air is leaking out of the system somewhere, through loose fittings, a tired air maintenance device, or a dry pipe valve that is not seating properly. Two bad things follow. The constant running wears the compressor out early, and a worn compressor may not have the lungs left to make that 30-minute refill when it matters. A leak you can hear today is a deficiency you will pay for later.

The hidden problem: moisture and corrosion

Here is the part that quietly destroys dry systems. Every time an ordinary air compressor pumps, it pushes a little moisture into the piping along with the air. That water collects at the low points of the system. Over the years it rots the pipe from the inside, and in a cold space it can freeze into an ice plug that blocks water from ever reaching the heads.

This is why dry systems have drum drips and auxiliary drains at their low points, and why those drains have to be emptied on a schedule, especially heading into and out of an Ontario winter. It is also why some buildings move to nitrogen or add an air dryer, since dry gas does not feed the corrosion. If your dry system is more than a few years old and nobody has been draining the low points, there is a good chance the inside of that pipe looks nothing like the outside.

Where the Ontario Fire Code comes in

In Ontario, dry sprinkler systems fall under the inspection, testing and maintenance rules of the Ontario Fire Code, which points to NFPA 25 for water-based systems. Recent editions of that standard added the air compressor itself to the list of equipment that has to be inspected, tested and maintained. In plain terms, that means someone needs to:

Check the compressor for damage and confirm the wiring and piping are intact and the unit is secured.
Test that it still restores system pressure within 30 minutes without overheating.
Change the oil on oil-lubricated units, usually once a year or more often if the manufacturer calls for it.
Test the low air pressure alarm so you actually get warned when pressure drops.

On top of the compressor, the dry pipe valve itself gets a partial-flow trip test every year and a full trip test every three years, and spring is the smart time to do it so the system has the warm months to dry out before the cold returns. All of it gets written down and kept on site, because a tag on the valve and a clean record is what an inspector or insurer wants to see.

A short maintenance checklist

Listen to the compressor. Frequent cycling means a leak. Find it.
Watch the air pressure gauge. It should hold steady at the set point.
Drain the tank and the system low points on a schedule, hard before winter.
Change the oil yearly on oil-lubricated units and keep the unit clean and ventilated.
Confirm the low air alarm works and reports somewhere a person will see it.
Keep dated records of every test and every refill check.

None of this is complicated. It is the kind of thing that gets skipped for years until a cold snap or a fire makes it everyone's problem at once.

Dry system help for Toronto and the GTA

If you own or manage a building in Toronto or across the GTA with a dry sprinkler system, the air compressor in your mechanical room deserves a second look before the next freeze or the next inspection. Sterling Safety helps GTA building owners and property managers keep their dry systems compliant with the Ontario Fire Code, stay on top of inspection and maintenance records, and catch the quiet problems, leaks, moisture, a tired compressor, before they turn into a notice of violation or a system that fails when it is called on.

Reach out and we will help you get your dry sprinkler maintenance and records in order.