Jackson, TN Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

Section 12-204 of the Jackson Municipal Code, added by Ordinance #2025-15 in January 2025, creates a new "Condition 6" inside Section 1006.3.3 of the locally adopted 2018 International Building Code, governing when a Group R-2 apartment building, meaning multifamily residential occupancy, may rely on a single exit stairway instead of the two exits the IBC generally requires. Condition 6 allows up to five stories of Group R-2 occupancy on a single exit only if the building is no taller than six stories above grade, is not a boarding house or used for transient occupants, and has no more than four dwelling units per floor.

Critically for fire protection, subsection 6.4 mandates that the building be equipped throughout with an automatic sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1, and further specifies that residential-type sprinklers be used in all habitable spaces in each dwelling unit, making sprinkler coverage a non-negotiable trade-off for the single-stair design. The amendment pairs the sprinkler mandate with other life-safety conditions: a maximum of two single-exit-stairway conditions per property separated by two-hour fire-rated walls, a pressurized interior exit stairway, self-closing sixty-minute fire-rated dwelling unit doors, a travel distance cap of 125 feet to the exit, and restrictions on what other occupancies may share the building.

Compliance is reviewed by the Building and Housing Codes Department established under § 12-102 as part of plan review and inspection for any qualifying apartment project.