Utah County, UT Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

' The mandate is not limited to new construction: an addition or remodel that touches more than half of a structure's building component or area triggers the same sprinkler requirement as a ground-up build. The rule is layered by fuel exposure. In the standard WUI zone, dwellings also need Class B roofing, noncombustible gutters and tempered exterior glazing under the same section. 030 water-supply requirement, get a reduced package (Class C roof, same sprinkler mandate) rather than an exemption from sprinklers themselves; the section carries the sprinkler requirement into both fuel tiers verbatim.

030 also ties sprinklers to fire flow: the Fire Marshal may cut a project's required fire flow by up to 75 percent when 'the building is provided with an approved automatic sprinkler system' and adequate vegetation clearance is maintained, which is often what makes a WUI lot's water supply feasible at all. A remodel that changes less than 50 percent of a nonconforming structure is exempt from the retrofit sprinkler mandate as long as it does not reduce the structure's existing fire safety below what it already had. The Fire Marshal, housed in the Community Development Department's Bureau of Fire Prevention, reviews plans for compliance before a building permit is issued.