DeKalb County, GA Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

DeKalb County Code § 12-24, adopted under Ordinance No. 05-05, splits the sprinkler mandate in two. Subsection (a) requires that all new multifamily dwelling properties be fully sprinklered to the latest edition of NFPA-13, a full-coverage standard, or NFPA-13R, the reduced standard built for low-rise multifamily housing. Subsection (b) reaches backward to existing stock: any existing high-rise residential occupancy building must already carry an approved NFPA-13 system. Section 12-2 defines a 'high-rise residential occupancy building' as a hotel, dormitory, apartment, lodging house, or board-and-care facility that exceeds seventy-five feet (23 meters) in height, measured from the lowest level accessible to DeKalb Fire and Rescue to the floor of the highest occupied story.

The same section separately defines 'apartment building' and 'residential property' as any structure with three or more independent living units, DeKalb's working definition for multifamily housing used elsewhere in the fire code. Under § 12-3, the chapter's reach is limited to unincorporated DeKalb County and to any municipality that has an intergovernmental agreement with the county for fire and rescue services, so residents of Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Tucker, Stonecrest, Decatur and DeKalb's other cities follow their own city's fire code instead. Section 12-6 backs the sprinkler rule with a permitting requirement: no building other than a one- or two-family dwelling may be constructed or altered without fire marshal-approved construction documents covering fire protection systems, sprinklers included. '