Kill Devil Hills, NC Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

52, AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEM NOT TO BE DISABLED, applies once a structure that is required to have an automatic fire sprinkler system is occupied: no person may shut off or disable the system, and no owner or resident may fail to prevent someone else from shutting it off or disabling it. The only lawful exception is maintenance work, and even then the system can be shut off only while qualified maintenance personnel are actually on the premises performing the necessary work, and only after the Fire Department has received notice and approved the work in advance.

51, AUTOMATIC ALARMS, which requires that activating a sprinkler system automatically trigger both a local building alarm and a supervisory alarm routed to a 24-hour certified and licensed monitoring service, so any unauthorized sprinkler shutdown is designed to also cut the alarm chain that would otherwise flag it. 53 separately criminalizes giving a false fire alarm or molesting a fire-alarm, fire-detection, or fire-extinguishing system, covering the sabotage side of the same protective scheme. 30, and the rule applies to any occupied structure required to carry a sprinkler system, whether that requirement comes from the Fire Code, the Building Code, or a zoning condition such as the reduced building-separation allowance for sprinklered structures in a Planned Unit Development.