The Ontario Fire Code Changes That Took Effect 1 January 2026 — For the Technician Doing the Work

Last updated: August 2026

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Quick answer

• What it is: an amending regulation, O. Reg. 87/25, made under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 (the Fire Code has since been further amended by O. Reg. 303/25)
• What it did: amended the Ontario Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07) and created the Code's first French edition
• In force: 1 January 2026, with a few exceptions
• Standards adopted (Table 1.2.1.A): CAN/ULC-S524-2019, S536-2019, S537-2019, S531-2019, S552-14, S553-14, S561-13, S1001-11. Note S537 is invoked by the Fire Code only at Article 9.9.4.12.(2) (Part 9 retrofit, hotels) — general verification of new systems is a Building Code matter
• Who it hits hardest: the technician filling out the report

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First, a correction that a lot of articles get wrong

You will read, in a lot of places, that O. Reg. 87/25 "replaced" the Ontario Fire Code.

It didn't.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's own communiqué, dated 5 June 2025, says:

O. Reg. 87/25 introduces changes to the Ontario Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07) and creates the first French edition of the Code. The changes to the OFC will come into force on January 1, 2026 with a few exceptions.

(OFM Communiqué 2025-02)

The Fire Code is still O. Reg. 213/07, as amended. If a document you are reading says otherwise, treat that as information about how carefully the rest of it was researched.

Worth noting too: OFM says there are exceptions to the 1 January 2026 date. Which provisions those are is not enumerated in the published communiqué. If you are relying on a specific provision being in force, confirm it rather than assuming.

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Almost everything written about this was written for building owners

Search "Ontario Fire Code 2026" and you get property management firms, fire protection service companies and landlord associations explaining what building owners must now do.

That is a legitimate audience. It just isn't yours.

Nobody wrote it for the person who has to actually perform the load test, fill out the prescribed form, and decide whether something goes in the deficiency column or the recommendations column. So here it is.

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The four changes that affect your day

1. Report forms are mandatory in format

This is the one that will get your paperwork rejected.

Since the 2019 editions of S536 and S537, the report forms moved out of the appendix — where they were a suggested format — and into the body of the standard. That changed them from a template into a requirement.

UL's own material and Calgary's fire marshal state the rule identically:

Tests or inspections may not be reworded or revised in order or format.

(BOABC / UL, May 2023 · Calgary Fire Marshal Bulletin 2025-001)

Ontario's own framing, via the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs: "All reports to follow a standardized format with detailed documentation. Monthly and annual inspections must use prescribed forms." (OAFC)

What this means practically:

• ✅ You may add your company logo
• ✅ You may recreate the form in your own software
• ❌ You may not reword a test description
• ❌ You may not reorder the tests
• ❌ You may not delete rows that don't apply — mark them N/A
• ❌ Your shop's twenty-year-old custom checklist is no longer acceptable

Calgary — Alberta, but the direction of travel is the same — rejects partial reports outright.

If your company still runs a homegrown inspection sheet, that is the first thing to fix. It is also the easiest deficiency for an inspector to spot, because they do not even need to look at the building.

2. Battery testing means an actual load test now

The old habit — put a meter across the terminals, write down 27.2 V, move on — does not satisfy this.

Battery testing must go beyond basic voltage checks to include functional or load testing with recorded results.

(OAFC, corroborated by REMI Network)

The 2019 edition of S536 introduced a silent accelerated battery test method to replace the previous meter-based approach. (Rotaflow)

Two things follow from this. You need the right equipment and the right procedure, not just a multimeter. And you need to record the measurement — an unrecorded test is, for compliance purposes, a test that did not happen.

A related point worth knowing: battery derating appears on the revision topic list for the 2024 edition of S524. (Standards Council of Canada) Battery calculations are an active moving target — don't assume the numbers you learned five years ago still hold.

3. Deficiencies go in their own column

Any deficiencies identified must be documented separately from general notes to create clearer action lists.

(OAFC)

The 2019 edition of S536 revised the terminology to distinguish three separate terms, not two: Deficiency, Recommendation, and Remark. (Rotaflow)

The distinction matters more than it looks. A deficiency is a compliance failure that creates an obligation on the owner to rectify. A recommendation is your professional advice. A remark is context.

Burying a genuine deficiency in a paragraph of general notes used to be common — sometimes to keep a client happy. Under the current structure it is a documentation failure in its own right, and it puts you rather than the owner on the wrong side of it.

4. Attendance logs need real detail

Attendance logs must include specific details such as names, dates, and times.

(OAFC)

"Tech attended, Q3" is not a log. Who, when, and for how long.

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Isolator testing — new, and worth knowing about

A Canadian trade source reports that the 2026 changes bring a specific protocol for testing fault isolators:

• Document the location and identification of each isolator
• Map isolator and device interaction across fire separations
• Verify that isolated zones operate independently
• Confirm automatic resumption after the fault is cleared and the panel reset
• Record loop performance and control panel response under a simulated fault
• Test each isolator individually, via temporary fault simulation

(FSS Canada)

This is a single trade source rather than a primary one, so treat the specifics as reported rather than settled — but the direction is consistent with everything else in the 2019 standards, and if you work on residential buildings with suite fault isolators it is worth confirming with your AHJ before your next annual.

If you are unclear on what suite fault isolators are and where they go, we cover that in the guide to the four ULC standards — including the detail that catches people out, which is that the isolator is installed outside the suite it protects.

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What else is in the amendment

Monitoring documentation. Where a system is monitored by a central station, the owner must obtain documentation confirming compliance with CAN/ULC-S561. (OAFC)

Integrated systems testing. Fire Code Article 6.10.1.1 applies to integrated fire protection and life safety systems installed on or after 1 January 2020, and requires testing to CAN/ULC-S1001. Sentence (4) waives the one-year integrated test required by S1001 for any system installed before 1 January 2026 — check the install date before scheduling it. This is the standard that covers the interfaces — fire alarm to fire pump, to dampers, to elevator recall, to door hold-open release. Verifying the fire alarm proves nothing about whether the elevators actually recall.

Carbon monoxide. Buildings heated by forced-air fuel-burning appliances must comply with new CO alarm placement rules effective 1 January 2026. (OAFC · TSSA)

A French edition. The Fire Code now exists in French for the first time. (OFM Communiqué 2025-02)

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Which editions did Ontario actually adopt?

This is the part people skip, and it matters.

Ontario adopted CAN/ULC-S536-2019 and CAN/ULC-S537-2019 effective 1 January 2026. Verified directly from the Fire Code's own referenced-documents table on Ontario e-Laws, which also shows S524-2019, S531-2019, S561-13 and S1001-11.

Note those last two: Ontario adopts the 2013 edition of S561 and the 2011 edition of S1001 — considerably older than what is currently published.

Those editions were published in 2019. Ontario reached them roughly six and a half years later.

Meanwhile the newest published installation standard is CAN/ULC-524-2024 — the 8th edition, published 23 December 2024 (note the "S" has been dropped from the designation). (Accuris)

Owning the newest standard does not mean you may build or test to it. The edition that governs is the one your code has adopted, and the answer differs by province and by instrument. Alberta moved to S536-19 on 1 May 2024. (Calgary Fire Marshal Bulletin 2025-001)

Ask the AHJ. Every time.

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What it costs to get this wrong

Penalties under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997:

(FireCode.legal)

One thing we are not going to tell you: several articles currently claim that Administrative Monetary Penalties for Fire Code violations came into force on 1 January 2026. A proposal for AMPs under the FPPA does appear on Ontario's regulatory registry — but we could not confirm from any source that they were enacted, what they attach to, or what the amounts are. Until that can be verified, the penalties above are the ones we can stand behind.

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Your practical checklist

• Are you using the prescribed forms from the body of S536/S537 — not a company checklist?
• Does every inapplicable row say N/A rather than being deleted or left blank?
• Are you performing an actual battery load test and recording the measurement?
• Are deficiencies in their own section, separate from recommendations and remarks?
• Does your attendance log carry names, dates and times?
• For monitored systems, has the owner obtained S561 documentation?
• For integrated systems, is S1001 testing scheduled?
• Do you know which edition your AHJ has adopted for this building?

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