Code Interpretations

Pursuant to Title 19 section 2.05 of the California Code of Regulations, any person may request a code interpretation from the Office State Fire Marshal (OSFM) relative to the intent of any regulation adopted by the OSFM. 
Code Interpretations are neither regulatory nor enforceable as law. A Code Interpretation provides clarification on a case-by-case basis on the intended meaning of a code provision adopted by the OSFM. 
Please note, not every request results in a Code Interpretation. If the OSFM determines that the code language is clear in how to apply the code, the requester will receive a response entitled “Code Application”. Code Application responses are emailed directly to the requestor and are more informal as they are not published on the OSFM website.
OSFM jurisdiction is set by statutes and regulations; therefore, it is important to note that the OSFM is not the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) over local jurisdictional projects and that these interpretations do not supersede the local AHJ. Please note, Code Interpretations rendered for Title 24 are valid for the code year edition identified in the Code Interpretation and Code Interpretations rendered for Title 19 are not code edition specific.