Fire Prevention Certification: who signs it and when the inspection comes

It is Chapter 4.2 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. Its purpose, the text says, is to establish the provisions for evaluating and granting the Fire Prevention Certification, and it includes the application requirements and the process allowing businesses to begin and continue operating while being inspected as part of compliance. It does not replace what the Fire Bureau publishes on its own or OGPe’s manual for multifamily residences: it is the part of the permit regulation governing the certification inside a business’s Permiso Único.

It reaches any natural person, company, partnership or other entity, owner or operator, applying for a Fire Prevention Certification. Besides the general requirements of Rule 2.1.9 on filing service applications, they are bound to comply with all the Joint Regulation’s provisions, the Puerto Rico Construction Code as amended, and any other regulation, circular or interpretative rule issued by the Puerto Rico Fire Bureau under its delegated powers, according to the proposed operation. There is one case the regulation expressly assimilates: vehicles and vessels or other similar transport that sit in a fixed place and are occupied as a building must be considered buildings and comply with this chapter.

• Meeting the general requirements of Rule 2.1.9 of Volume II on filing service applications.Verified against the official source
• Complying with the Puerto Rico Construction Code as amended and with any Fire Bureau regulation, circular or interpretative rule, according to the proposed operation.Verified against the official source
• That the applicant certifies the establishment conforms or will conform to the requirements set in the Regulation.Verified against the official source
• For buildings of new construction, extension, remodelling or change of occupancy: holding a Fire Bureau Resolución de Recomendación issued under Chapter 9.12 of Volume IX.Verified against the official source
• That the certificate issued by the Inspector or Authorised Professional contains the certifying paragraph the regulation prints.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Who may issue it

   Ley 161-2009, as amended, empowered OGPe, hierarchy I-III autonomous municipalities, Authorised Professionals and Authorised Inspectors, as applicable, to issue the Fire Prevention Certification relating directly or indirectly to land development and use and to the operation of businesses in Puerto Rico, as part of a Permiso Único. It is not a separate filing settled at its own counter: it lives inside the Permiso Único.

2. 2

   Step 2: What must be complied with

   Besides meeting the general requirements of Rule 2.1.9 of Volume II on filing service applications, any natural person, company, partnership or other entity, owner or operator, applying for a Fire Prevention Certification is bound to comply with all the Joint Regulation’s provisions, the Puerto Rico Construction Code as amended, and any other regulation, circular or interpretative rule issued by the Puerto Rico Fire Bureau under its delegated powers, according to the proposed operation.

3. 3

   Step 3: Who inspects

   The applicant certifies that the establishment the certification is sought for conforms or will conform to the requirements set in the regulation. The inspection may then be carried out by any of these: an OGPe inspector, inspectors of the government entities concerned, Fire Bureau inspectors, an Authorised Professional or an Authorised Inspector. That inspection checks the fire protection conditions required by the applicable provisions of the regulation, the Puerto Rico Construction Code and the Puerto Rico Fire Code, as amended. Once all the information has been evaluated and the compliance inspection carried out, the corresponding inspection report is issued and included in the Permiso Único case file. And Authorised Professionals and Inspectors are responsible for the content and the regulatory and legal compliance of the reports they prepare and submit.

4. 4

   Step 4: The certificate’s exact paragraph

   The regulation leaves the wording to no one. The certificate issued by the Inspector or Authorised Professional must contain the following paragraph: "Yo [NOMBRE y APELLIDOS], [Inspector Autorizado en Prevención de Incendios, PA], CERTIFICO que el establecimiento objeto del presente Certificado de Prevención de Incendios reúne los requisitos reglamentarios aplicables de seguridad, rotulación, equipo, diseño y estructurales." If the certificate handed to you does not say that, it is not drafted as the regulation requires.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you build, extend, remodel or change the use

   Here is a prior step people forget that stalls files. Every application for a Fire Prevention Certification for a building of new construction, extension, remodelling or change of occupancy must hold a Fire Bureau Resolución de Recomendación issued under Chapter 9.12 of Volume IX of the regulation itself. That is: where there are works or a change of occupancy, the Bureau’s recommendation comes first.

6. 6

   Step 6: To operate: certification first, inspection after

   The Fire Prevention Certification for operating a business is issued within the Permiso Único before the required inspections take place. The establishment’s inspection is carried out after the certification is issued, to check, document and confirm the adequacy of the conditions and requirements demanded by the regulation’s applicable provisions. Holding the certificate does not mean you have passed the inspection; it means you may start while it is being carried out. And every establishment or premises applying must conform to and comply with the Construction Code, the fire codes in force and any other regulation, law, circular or interpretative rule issued by the Bureau under its delegated powers.

7. 7

   Step 7: What the Bureau may do afterwards

   The Fire Bureau has the power to audit at any time, carry out periodic inspections and investigations of lots, buildings and structures where a particular situation warrants it, to detect violations of fire safety, protection and prevention laws or regulations or the existence of any situation carrying the possibility of causing a fire or explosion; to fine; and to order the stoppage or closure of the operation under Ley 20-2017 and any other Bureau regulation, circular or interpretative rule in force. And obtaining the certification within a Permiso Único does not exempt anyone from any additional requirement of the regulation, of the Puerto Rico Fire Code as amended, or of any other rule, law, circular or standard in force.

8. 8

   Step 8: The vehicles and vessels that count as buildings

   The chapter closes with reference-standard rules, and one of them is surprisingly concrete: vehicles and vessels or other similar transport that sit in a fixed place and are occupied as a building must be considered buildings and comply with this chapter. If your operation lives in something that moves but is parked and occupied as premises, the regulation treats it as premises.

9. 9

   Step 9: Old buildings, works and new equipment

   Three more rules from the same section. Where standards or requirements are not contemplated in this chapter or the regulation, compliance with other laws, codes, ordinances and regulations adopted by OGPe or the Bureau is considered prima facie evidence of compliance with the regulation’s purpose. Existing buildings with a construction permit granted before this chapter must comply with the provisions for existing buildings under the Construction Code and the Fire Code in force, and with any formal documentation issued on the point by the Bureau. And repairs, renovations, alterations, reconstructions, changes of occupancy and extensions must comply with this chapter, the Existing Buildings Code, the Construction Code, the Fire Code and any Bureau regulation or final documentation; while newly introduced equipment, materials and operations regulated by this chapter must meet the requirements for new construction or new processes.

Within the Permiso Único, before OGPe, a hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality, an Authorised Professional or an Authorised Inspector, as applicable. The Resolución de Recomendación for new construction, extension, remodelling or change of occupancy is issued by the Fire Bureau under Chapter 9.12 of Volume IX. Later oversight — inspections, fines and stoppage or closure orders — belongs to the Fire Bureau under Ley 20-2017. The requirements and fees the Bureau publishes on its own, and OGPe’s manual for the multifamily residence certification, are covered in our fire-permit and multifamily fire-prevention guides.

• Applying for the certification for works or a change of occupancy without the Bureau’s Resolución de Recomendación.
• Believing the certification means you have already been inspected.
• Accepting a certificate without the certifying paragraph with name and surname the regulation prints.
• Thinking the certification shields you from the Bureau’s inspections, fines and closure orders.
• Assuming a vehicle or vessel occupied as premises does not count as a building.
• Applying the new-construction rules to a building permitted before the chapter, or the other way round.
• Forgetting that newly introduced equipment, materials and operations meet the new-construction requirements.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov