The primary goals of the Fire Prevention Bureau are to educate the public about fire prevention and life safety; ensure required firefighter and EMS access is established and maintained; and ensure fire hydrants, standpipes, and other required fire protection systems are installed properly, and maintained.

The Bureau has been integrated into the Permit Center for over 10 years, where Prevention staff works collaboratively with Planning, Building, Code Enforcement, Public Works, and the rest of the Permit Center Staff. The Prevention Staff is responsible for plan checking, permitting construction projects, and inspecting those projects during the construction and final phases of the project.

The City’s Fire Code requires Fire Operational Permits to be issued for operations and processes that are a fire and life safety hazard. These permitted operations require an on-site inspection, which is handled by the Bureau.

The Fire Prevention Bureau is also required to regularly inspect institutional, educational, and apartments, hotels/motels, and assembly occupancies as required by the CFC and State law. In addition, business and mercantile occupancies are inspected on an as needed basis to help reduce the occurrence of fires.

In an effort to reduce the demand for limited and critical public safety resources, the Salinas City Council recently took action to update the fees charged by the Salinas Fire Department for responses to false fire alarm activations per Salinas Municipal Code Sec. 13-7.1. (Ord. 2558(NCS), § 1, 4-28-2015).

Current response statistics reflect the vast majority of responses to fire alarm activations are unwarranted due to deferred and/or improper maintenance, defective or malfunctioning sensors, and obsolete or aged systems. A false fire alarm is defined as; “An emergency response of Fire Department resources for any alarm where upon arrival, or if by cancellation en-route, no emergency existed”.

Effective November 15, 2016, the fees for false fire alarm responses per calendar year will increase as follows:

1st Response   2nd Response  3rd Response   4th Response   >5 responses

       $350                $800                   $1,000-*         $1,350            $1,350-*

*- An inspection of the alarm system is required and associated additional fees will be applied.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.cityofsalinas.org or call the Salinas Fire Department Division of Fire Prevention at (831) 758-7261 Thank you for assisting us in our efforts to improve vital emergency services to our community.