Marietta, GA Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

Marietta's sprinkler mandate lives in § 2-6-140 of the fire prevention chapter, most recently amended by Ordinance No. 8140 in 2020. The section defines a multifamily residential structure as a building up to four stories, excluding duplexes and freestanding single-family homes, and treats any addition, or any building undergoing substantial renovation costing more than its assessed tax value, as new for sprinkler purposes. Subsection B requires all new commercial buildings to be protected throughout with an approved automatic fire protection system, with a narrow exception: owners of buildings under 15,000 square feet used mainly for low-hazard storage may petition the fire marshal for relief from sprinklering the storage areas, and additions under 1,000 square feet to an existing unprotected building can skip sprinklers if separated by fire-rated construction under the Marietta Building Code.

Subsection C extends the full sprinkler mandate to all new multifamily residential structures with no size exception. Subsection D reaches single-family and duplex construction directly: any new one- or two-family dwelling built closer than 20 feet to another structure, or closer than 10 feet to the property line, must be sprinkled with an approved system, tying the residential trigger to lot proximity rather than square footage. Owners bear responsibility for inspecting and testing their sprinkler systems under the rules of the Georgia Safety Fire Commissioner, and the section resolves conflicts with the standard building code, fire prevention code, or life safety code by applying whichever standard is more restrictive.