Prince George's County, MD Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

Section 4-245 rewrites International Residential Code Section R-313 for Prince George's County and applies it to every new detached one- and two-family dwelling, plus manufactured and modular homes installed as new one- or two-family residences after December 31, 2010. The reductions the code trades for full sprinkler coverage are specific: no basement exit to grade, no second exit from the dwelling, no fire-resistive ceiling membrane on trusses, and fire separations that can drop from a two-hour to a one-hour rating using combustible framing. The mandate reaches beyond new construction.

2 requires a full sprinkler retrofit when fire, explosion, or neglect-driven damage forces repairs the Director determines exceed fifty percent of a detached dwelling's or townhome's value, and additions that exceed one hundred percent of an existing structure's floor area trigger the same requirement for the whole building. 4 requires any habitable addition to an already-sprinklered home to be sprinklered too. 5: any building over 1,000 square feet needs a hydrant within 500 feet of hose lay, rated for at least 1,000 gallons per minute at 20 psi residual pressure, with an alternate water source allowed only where public water is unavailable. 6 requires the circuit breaker switch to sit within visual line-of-sight of the pump.