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

Title 12, Chapter 6 of the Smyrna Municipal Code adopts the International Residential Code, 2024 edition, and modifications thereto (§ 12-601), through Ord. No. 26-13, adopted March 10, 2026. Section 12-602 lists the modifications. Item (12) reads: Section R309 Automatic fire sprinkler systems. Delete this section in its entirety.

The effect is that the automatic sprinkler section of the model residential code is not part of the residential code as Smyrna enforces it. The deletion sits among 23 numbered modifications in § 12-602, and the same list deletes the flood hazard sections R104.2.3.1, R106.2.6, and R306.2.

The Town Council paired the sprinkler deletion with passive fire protection changes. Item (9) changes Table R302.1(1), the minimum fire resistance rating for walls at 0 feet, from "1 hour" to "2 hour" and eliminates footnote "b" entirely. Item (10) amends Section R302.5.1 Opening protection by deleting everything after "20 minute fire-rated doors" in the second sentence. Item (11) adds Section R318.1.1: sleeping rooms shall not constitute the only means of access to other sleeping rooms or habitable spaces and shall not serve as the only means of egress from other habitable spaces. Item (7) adds a definition to Section R202: "Sleeping Room: A room that contains an opaque privacy door, and a closet."

The town's fire code sits separately in Title 7, and § 12-104 cross-references it, so buildings under the International Building Code in Chapter 1 are outside this deletion. Section 12-603 requires one copy of the residential code on file in the Town Clerk's office under T.C.A. § 6-54-502, kept for the use and inspection of the public.