By Doug Nelson, State Fire Marshal
It is official! The Office of the State Fire Marshal has adopted the 2021 Edition of the International Fire Code as the state rules for fire prevention. The 2021 Edition is the most recent International Code Council-published fire code available, effective January 1, 2024. Our Fire Code of North Dakota is adopted under administrative rule 45-18-01. You can always find a link to this at our website here.
The fire code and companion codes, such as the building, residential and other codes, are reissued every three years. Though this makes adoption cycles short and fast, it is important to keep up to date with the most current codes to recognize the most advanced building techniques, identify the most hazardous new technologies, recognize state and local jurisdictions that are eligible for Federal financial assistance and to ensure that insurance rates remain as competitive as possible by reducing risk throughout. A link to free access to the International Code Council's family of model codes can be found on our website.
As mentioned earlier, the State of North Dakota also adopts State Building, Residential, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Energy Conservation, and Existing Building codes. These codes are also on the 2021 Edition and were effective January 1, 2023. The North Dakota Department of Commerce adopts these codes, which can be found on their website here.
This month's century code highlight is NDCC 54-21.3 “State Building Code." This section of code sets forth the scope, process, participants, and enforcement of the State building codes. The State Building Code Advisory Committee consists of nine members, one of whom is an appointee by the State Fire Marshal. The State Fire Code does refer to amendments under the State Building Code as precedent, so it is essential to know and understand our building codes and our State Fire Code. If you or your jurisdiction need any assistance in code identification or enforcement, please get in touch with our office main line at (701)328-5555.