Plans Review Information & Permitting Information

Athens Fire Prevention would like to first thank you for your interest in locating or building in our city. On this page you will find some general guidelines on what the fire prevention office requires for commercial building projects. These are not all inclusive and do not fit all projects.

If you have any questions please contact our office during our normal business hours of 7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Monday - Friday at 256-233-8723.

ADOPTED CODES

The City of Athens has adopted the International Code Council 2018 set of codes for all city departments. ALL plans submitted MUST be submitted under to 2018 code set. 

This adoption of the 2108 ICC also brought forth a new fee schedule for inspections and permits. All permit/inspection applications and fees are processed through the Athens Building Department. The full fee schedule can be found by clicking here. 

The Fire Prevention Office related fees/permits are as follows:

Fee Schedule as of July, 1 2021
CO Inspection$75
Commercial Kitchen Hood$50 + Issuance Fee
Fire Alarm System$150 minimum or .0025 x Contract Price + Issuance Fee
Fire Sprinkler System$150 minimum or .0025 x Contract Price + Issuance Fee
Reinspection1st $50
2nd $75
3rd(or more) $100
Issuance Fee$25 
ALL PERMIT/INSPECTION APPLICATIONS AND FEES ARE PROCESSED THROUGH ATHENS BUILDING DEPARTMENT. 
256-233-8715

 

Guidelines


  1. The City of Athens operates under the 2018 International Fire Code. 
  2. The Fire Prevention office requires site plan, building, fire alarm, fire sprinkler and other applicable drawings to be submitted for review before any project begins. Send two (2) sets of stamped and signed drawings to the physical address listed on the right side of this page. If you submit drawings for review, you MUST be licensed by the State of Alabama for the type of plans your are submitting when you submit. Please see new Fee Schedule for plan review fees. 
  3. We require any new construction, renovation, or change of occupancy to have a Knox Box® installed for emergency entry by the fire department.
  4. We require any building requiring a fire sprinkler system to have a stand-alone FDC away from the building with Knox Box® locking caps installed.
  5. Any commercial kitchen hood and suppression installation must be inspected and tested prior to use. A smoke test is required for testing the hoods. Please contact the fire prevention office to schedule these inspections/test.
  6. We conduct inspections throughout the construction process and a final inspection is required before a Certificate of Occupancy (C-O) will be issued. All fire related systems must pass at the final inspection or the C-O will not be issued until they do.
  7. We conduct fire alarm and fire sprinkler acceptance tests upon completion of a system. These are complete tests, and the systems must function properly or the test will be considered failed. For fire alarm systems, smoke (no magnets) is required to test detectors during an alarm test. **Beginning December 15, 2022, ALL acceptance test records will be required to be uploaded to https://www.thecomplianceengine.com/ by the service provider. 
  8. ***Beginning December 15, 2022, Athens Bureau of Fire Prevention will require ALL third-party fire and life safety inspection reports to be uploaded to https://www.thecomplianceengine.com/ by the service provider***
  9. All permit/inspection applications and fees are processed through the Athens Building Department phone# 256-233-8715.