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 We review your existing Fire Safety Plan against the current Ontario Fire Code, flag anything out of date, and bring it back into compliance before it becomes a problem with the fire department.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.

Evacuation Plan Diagrams: What the Ontario Fire Code Actually Requires

Aug 27

3 min read

Ask most tenants what's posted by the elevators on their floor and they'll say "the evacuation map." Ask them what it's actually for, or whether it's even accurate, and most can't tell you. That gap is exactly what gets exposed during an inspection, or worse, during an actual evacuation.

An evacuation diagram isn't a standalone document. It's one required component of your Fire Safety Plan under the Ontario Fire Code, and it's one of the pieces inspectors check first because it's the one every occupant is supposed to be able to read at a glance.

Why it matters

A fire alarm doesn't tell anyone which way to go. In a building someone doesn't know well, tenants, contractors, delivery drivers, visitors, the posted diagram is often the only source of route information they have in the first thirty seconds of an evacuation. A diagram that's wrong, outdated, or oriented backwards from the wall it's mounted on doesn't just fail to help. It sends people the wrong way during the exact moment they can least afford it.

This is also why a generic template pulled off the internet and dropped onto every floor of a building is a liability, not a shortcut. Every floor has a different layout, different exit distances, and a different position for the "you are here" marker. One diagram cannot correctly serve them all.

What the Fire Code requires

Section 2.8 of the Ontario Fire Code governs Fire Safety Plans, and Article 2.8.2.1 sets out what the plan must contain. Among the required elements, the plan must include documents and diagrams showing the type, location, and operation of the building's fire emergency systems, alarm devices, extinguishers, standpipes, and the layout occupants need to understand to evacuate safely.

Posting is a separate requirement. Under Subsection 2.8.2.5, fire emergency procedures, including the evacuation diagram, are required to be posted in a conspicuous location on each floor area. In Toronto specifically, the approved Fire Safety Plan itself also has to be kept on site in an approved fire safety plan box under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 470, so the diagrams posted on each floor need to match what's on file in that box exactly. If they don't, that's an inconsistency an inspector will flag immediately.

What actually belongs on the diagram

There's no single Ontario-specific graphic standard for evacuation diagrams, so the industry, our shop included, works from the NFPA 170 symbol set for consistency, since it's the convention most fire departments and building occupants already recognize. A properly built diagram includes:

A correctly oriented floor plan, matched to the direction you're actually facing when standing in front of it
A "you are here" marker specific to that exact posting location
Primary and secondary exit routes, clearly distinguished from each other
Stairwell identification, fire alarm pull stations, and extinguisher locations
The exterior assembly point
A legend explaining every symbol used, in plain language

Every one of those elements has to be specific to that floor and that exact posting location. A diagram posted near the east stairwell needs its "you are here" marker at the east stairwell, not copy-pasted from the west side of the building.

Where diagrams go wrong

The most common failure we see isn't a missing diagram, it's a stale one. A tenant fit-up moves a wall or reconfigures a corridor, a new fire extinguisher gets relocated, an assembly point changes because of a parking lot renovation, and nobody updates the diagram to match. The Fire Safety Plan is supposed to be reviewed and kept current, and an evacuation diagram that no longer reflects the physical building is functionally the same as having none at all when an inspector, or a real emergency, puts it to the test.

Get it built right, once

Sterling Safety builds and updates evacuation diagrams as part of every Fire Safety Plan we produce across the GTA and Southern Ontario, matched floor by floor to the actual building layout and kept consistent with what's on file with your local fire department. If your posted diagrams haven't been looked at since your last renovation, that's worth a call before an inspector makes the point for you.