NFC: National Fire Code of Canada

The National Fire Code of Canada is the model code for how a building is operated and maintained once it is occupied, as opposed to how it is built. Like the National Building Code it is published by the National Research Council and has no legal force until a jurisdiction adopts it. NFC 2020 is free from the NRC Publications Archive. Ontario does not use it: Ontario wrote its own Fire Code, O. Reg. 213/07, and that is the document an Ontario technician is actually held to.

Last updated: September 2026

What the document actually is

The National Fire Code of Canada is the model code governing how a building is operated and maintained once it is occupied, rather than how it is built. It is published by the National Research Council alongside the National Building Code, and like the NBC it has no legal force anywhere until a jurisdiction adopts it. NFC 2020 is free in electronic format from the NRC Publications Archive.

The split it sits on

The building code and fire code division is the most useful structural idea in Canadian fire protection, and the NFC is one half of it. Construction, installation, extension and modification are building code territory. Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, shutdown and record keeping are fire code territory. The same fire alarm system is governed by both documents at different points in its life, by different officials, with different paperwork. The Ontario version of that split is set out in Building Code vs Fire Code.

Ontario is the exception, and it is the exception that matters most

Ontario does not adopt the NFC. Its fire code is the Ontario Fire Code, O. Reg. 213/07, a complete standalone regulation made under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, amended by O. Reg. 87/25 with effect from 1 January 2026.

Say this plainly, because it is the source of a great deal of bad advice. If you are working in Ontario and somebody quotes you an NFC article number, they are quoting a document your Chief Fire Official does not enforce. Find the equivalent in O. Reg. 213/07, which is free and complete on e-Laws, and read the wording yourself.

Who does adopt it, and in what shape

Adoption takes three shapes, and the shape changes what you cite.

Adopted broadly as published. Saskatchewan has been on NFC 2020 since 1 January 2024, New Brunswick from 1 May 2025, and Prince Edward Island from 31 March 2024 with NFPA 1 appearing in places. The Northwest Territories adopts NBC 2020 and NFC 2020 through its Fire Prevention Regulations.
Adopted as a badged provincial edition. Alberta uses the National Fire Code 2023 Alberta Edition, in force 1 May 2024, which NRC publishes free. Newfoundland and Labrador moved to NFC 2025 on 12 July 2026.
Adopted into a provincial instrument with its own number. Manitoba's Fire Code is M.R. 82/2023, in force 1 January 2024. British Columbia has a BC Fire Code 2024. Quebec's Code de securite, Chapter VIII, adopts NFC 2020 at article 370.

The comparison across all thirteen jurisdictions is in who can work on fire alarms, province by province.

Why you cite the adopting instrument, not the NFC

Two reasons, and both bite in practice.

First, the rules about who is allowed to touch a system live in the adopting instrument, not in the model code. Manitoba's Fire Code names the CFAA program in its own adopted code text. Ontario's requirement is a program or course acceptable to the Fire Marshal, in Division C of O. Reg. 213/07. The NFC on its own names nobody.

Second, the edition of every CAN/ULC standard you are held to comes from the adopting jurisdiction's referenced documents table. Not from the model code, and not from whatever is currently for sale. That is covered in the adoption gap and tracked with dates in which edition does my province use.

What we have not verified

We have read Ontario's Fire Code referenced documents table ourselves. For the other jurisdictions listed above we have read the adopting instrument or the province's own page, but not every referenced documents table clause by clause. Where a page on this site states that a province designates a specific CAN/ULC edition, it says where that came from. Where it does not, treat the edition as unconfirmed and put the question to your authority having jurisdiction in writing.

Fire Alarm Academy provides educational content only. It does not confer any certification, licence or credential, and it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by the Canadian Fire Alarm Association, the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario, ULC Standards, UL Standards and Engagement, CSA Group, the Electrical Safety Authority, any authority having jurisdiction, or any manufacturer. Always work from the edition of any standard adopted by your authority having jurisdiction.