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 We review your existing Fire Safety Plan against the current Ontario Fire Code, flag anything out of date, and bring it back into compliance before it becomes a problem with the fire department.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

Fire Pump Packing Explained: A Guide for Building Owners

5 days ago
4 min read

If you own or manage a building in Toronto with a fire pump, this small part deserves more attention than it usually gets. When packing fails, the pump can leak, overheat, or chew up its own shaft. None of that shows up on a walk-through. It shows up when the pump is asked to run, which is the worst possible time to find out.

What fire pump packing actually does

A fire pump moves water by spinning an impeller on a shaft. That shaft has to pass out through the pump casing, and the water inside is under pressure. Something has to seal that gap so the pump does not spray water everywhere, while still letting the shaft turn freely.

That something is the packing. It is braided rope, usually graphite these days, cut into rings and stacked around the shaft inside a chamber called the stuffing box. A gland follower compresses those rings just enough to seal against the shaft.

Here is the part that trips a lot of people up. Packing is not supposed to seal completely. It is meant to weep a small, steady amount of water. That little drip, often around one drop per second, cools and lubricates the spot where the packing rides against the spinning shaft. Choke it off and the friction has nowhere to go. The packing cooks, the shaft sleeve scores, and you have turned a cheap maintenance job into a major repair.

New braided graphite fire pump packing, ready to be cut into rings.

What the old packing is telling you

Look at the second photo. Those rings came out hard as a knuckle. Good packing is soft and pliable, almost greasy. Over time, two things kill it. Heat from normal operation slowly bakes the material, and the mineral content in the water leaves deposits behind that turn the rope brittle. Once it gets to the state in that photo, it cannot crush down and form a seal anymore, no matter how much you tighten the gland.

That is the trap. When packing starts leaking too much, the natural instinct is to crank the gland nuts down. With worn, hardened packing that does not work. You either cannot stop the leak, or you tighten it enough to kill the cooling drip and burn the packing up. At that point the only fix is to pull it all out and repack the pump.

Old packing rings removed from the stuffing box, hardened and charred, next to fresh packing for comparison.

Why this matters for your Ontario Fire Code compliance

In Ontario, fire pumps fall under the inspection, testing and maintenance rules of the Ontario Fire Code, which points to NFPA 25 for water-based systems. The Code requires the pump to be run regularly, every week or month depending on the setup, in what most people call a churn test. That run is exactly when packing should be watched and adjusted, because you can only judge the drip rate and the temperature with the pump turning.

A fire pump that cannot hold a proper seal is a fire pump that may not deliver rated pressure to your sprinklers and standpipes. That is a life safety problem first, and a compliance problem right behind it. If a fire inspector or your insurer finds a pump that is not being maintained and documented, you are looking at a deficiency, possibly a notice of violation, and an order to fix it on someone else’s timeline instead of your own.

The pump room is one of those areas that gets ignored until it cannot be ignored. Records get thin, the weekly runs get skipped, and the packing quietly hardens until the day it fails.

Signs your fire pump is due for repacking

You do not need to be a pump tech to catch most of these:

• The leak has gone from a steady drip to a stream, and tightening the gland no longer brings it under control.

• The stuffing box runs hot to the touch after a test run, or you see steam or smoke at the gland.

• Packing is squeezing out the back of the gland.

• The packing looks dry, glazed, or brittle when the pump is opened up.

• Your maintenance records show the pump has never been repacked, or nobody can tell you when it last was.

Any one of those is worth a closer look before your next inspection.

What proper repacking involves

Repacking is straightforward when it is done right, and a headache when it is rushed. The old rings come out, the stuffing box gets cleaned, and the shaft sleeve gets checked for scoring, because a chewed-up sleeve will eat new packing just as fast. New rings are cut to the correct length, seated one at a time, and staggered so the seams sit about 90 degrees apart and water cannot run straight through. The gland goes on light, the pump runs through a break-in period, and the drip gets dialled in over the first while of operation rather than clamped down all at once.

Done properly, packing is cheap insurance. Done poorly, or left for years, it is the reason a pump fails the one time it matters.

Fire pump compliance help for Toronto and the GTA

If you own or manage a building in Toronto or anywhere across the GTA and you cannot say with confidence when your fire pump was last serviced or repacked, that gap is worth closing before an inspector closes it for you. Sterling Safety helps GTA building owners and property managers stay onside with the Ontario Fire Code, keep clean inspection and maintenance records, and catch deficiencies like a tired fire pump before they turn into a violation.

Reach out and we will help you get your fire pump documentation and compliance in order.

Fire Pump Packing Explained: A Guide for Building Owners

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