Inspections & Orders
Who's inspecting you, what they can do, and what comes next.
Most Fire Code charges start with a knock at the door. Here's how enforcement actually works in Ontario — who the players are, the powers an inspector has on your property, the documents you may be handed, and the routes for pushing back on an order.
Who enforces the Fire Code
Enforcement is shared between the province and your municipality. Knowing who you're dealing with tells you who can review an order — and who can't.
- Investigates the cause, origin and circumstances of fires and explosions.
- Advises municipalities on how to interpret and enforce the Act and the Fire Code.
- Reviews inspection orders made by local inspectors when an owner asks.
- Every municipality must run fire prevention and public education, through a fire department or a community fire safety officer.
- Council appoints a fire chief, who is an inspector under the Act and an assistant to the Fire Marshal.
- The chief can delegate inspection powers to firefighters — usually the fire prevention officers who actually show up.
- Once a charge is laid, the file usually moves to the municipality's prosecution office.
- They decide what to offer, what disclosure to provide, and whether to take the case to trial.
- In Toronto, Fire Code charges are prosecuted by City of Toronto Legal Services.
What an inspector can — and must — do
Fire inspectors have wide powers under the Act, and refusing them is its own offence. But those powers come with limits and obligations, too.
Powers on your property
- Enter and inspect land and premises without a warrant, at all reasonable times, to assess fire safety.
- Bring a police officer or anyone else they consider advisable.
- Examine documents, demand they be produced, and remove documents or things for review and copying.
- Run tests, take samples, and take photos and video.
- Question anyone on matters relevant to the inspection.
- After a fire, or where there's an immediate threat to life, the Fire Marshal or fire chief has further powers to enter, close premises and act.
Limits and obligations
- On request, the inspector must identify themselves and explain the purpose of the entry.
- Anything removed must be made available to you on request and returned within a reasonable time.
- If entry is refused, the inspector needs a warrant from a justice of the peace — which can be sought without notice to you.
- You must produce requested documents and help interpret them.
- Obstructing an inspector, refusing entry, or giving false or misleading answers is an offence carrying the same penalties as a Fire Code violation.
What you might be handed
These documents look similar, but they carry very different consequences and very different deadlines. Know which one you have.
Lists each contravention by Fire Code section with the inspector's comments, and warns that you may be prosecuted. It isn't a charge yet — but it's often the evidence a charge is built on, so what you do next matters.
Requires specific work — repairs, alterations, removing hazards, installing equipment, a fire safety plan. It must state its reasons, the action required, the deadline, and your right to a review. With the Fire Marshal's approval, an order can also close the premises.
You've been charged and the matter is now in Provincial Offences Court. Most serious Fire Code matters proceed by summons, with a court date and full disclosure rights.
Where prescribed, an authorized person can impose a monetary penalty without a court case — up to $10,000 for an individual and $100,000 for anyone else. It can be combined with a fine, there's no hearing before it's made, and you have the right to request a review.
Orders have limits: an inspector generally can't order structural repairs to a building that was built to the Building Code of its day and still complies with it — unless the Fire Code's retrofit requirements apply. Work done to comply with an order is deemed not to breach the Building Code. FPPA s. 22
Pushing back on an order
An order isn't the final word
There's a formal route for challenging an inspection order, and in most cases asking for a review puts the order on hold while it's considered.
In a multi-unit building, posting the order in a conspicuous place counts as serving the occupants.
Written request. The order is stayed while it's reviewed, unless lifted for public safety. The Fire Marshal can confirm, change or rescind it — or send it straight to the Commission.
An independent tribunal. No filing fee; a case conference, then a hearing with evidence and witnesses. The appeal stays the order.
A further appeal from the Commission lies to the Divisional Court on any question that isn't purely one of fact.
FPPA ss. 24–27. Extensions of time are possible in some circumstances — don't assume a missed deadline is the end of the road, but don't count on it either.
The numbers to know
Source: Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, as consolidated in the Office of the Fire Marshal's 2026 Fire Code Compendium (current to January 1, 2026).