Hawthorne, CA Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

010 requires sprinklers 'notwithstanding' any other code provision once any one of three triggers is met: total floor area of 5,000 square feet or more, four or more stories in height, or an A, B, E, F, H, I, M, or S occupancy classified under the California Building Code sitting 150 feet or farther, measured horizontally, from an approved clear fire department vehicle access point. The system must comply with National Fire Protection Association Standard No. 13, or Standard No. 13D where the fire chief determines that standard applies, as those standards are amended from time to time.

'New building' is defined broadly under subsection C: any structure permitted on or after the ordinance's effective date, any addition that pushes an existing building over the height or area limits in subsection A, or any existing building whose area or height already exceeds those limits and whose occupancy classification is changed to a more hazardous one. Additions under 3,000 square feet, and repairs or alterations costing 50 percent or less of the building's value in any 24-month period, are carved out of the definition unless the addition itself would bring the building to 5,000 square feet or more.

020 requires a four-hour fire wall for any wall relied on to create a separate building classification for sprinkler purposes, except a Group R, Division 3 building may use a two-hour wall running from foundation to at least 30 inches above the roof with no openings or penetrations. 1 of the 2013 California Fire Code apply.