Pontiac, MI Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

Pontiac's fire doors and sprinkler systems article, City Code §§ 62-106 through 62-110, targets large apartment buildings rather than single-family homes. Section 62-107 requires a sprinkler system, installed per the city's plumbing code, in the basement or cellar storage rooms and locker rooms of any multiple dwelling housing more than eight families, wherever those spaces hold occupants' belongings or unusually combustible materials such as papers, rags, paints or oils. Sprinkler heads must be spaced to provide at least one head per 100 square feet or fraction of area, and any storage space subdivided into smaller compartments by solid material, rather than open mesh screening, needs a head over each separate compartment.

The water supply, which may tie into the building's own water main, needs only enough capacity to run five heads at once, and the storage space and its access passageways must stay lit with ceiling-mounted electric lights. Section 62-108 makes the owner, agent, manager or caretaker responsible for keeping the article's required fire doors in working order, and § 62-109 extends that same personal responsibility to maintaining the sprinkler system once the owner has received written notice of a violation. Section 62-110 gives an owner or caretaker 90 days from the fire marshal's certified-mail notice to complete any sprinkler installation the article requires.

Separately, § 62-111 requires any building, vacant or not, with an existing fire alarm or suppression system to have that system tested at least once a year by a fire department-approved licensed service company, with the results reported to the fire marshal's office.