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San Diego County

San Diego County Fire, Community Risk Reduction Division (Fire Marshal Program)

In short

San Diego County Fire, Community Risk Reduction Division (Fire Marshal Program) issues 2 permits we publish for San Diego County, last verified 2026-09-27. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
County Fire Plan Review and Inspection Feesonly if it applies to youSan Diego County Fire, Community Risk Reduction Division (Fire Marshal Program)Combined plan review + inspection, per County Administrative Code §362.5(a): Residential Building Permit without sprinklers $112+$96=$208; with sprinklers $224+$175=$399; Commercial Building Permit without sprinklers $167+$168=$335; with sprinklers $167+$335=$502; Commercial Tenant Improvement $83+$168=$251; Fire Safety/Site Inspection $0+$168=$168; Fire Alarm System $112+$223=$335; Alternative Fire Suppression System $56+$168=$224; Special Event/Fire $56+$168=$224; Grading Plan Review/Fire $56 (no inspection component); Re-Inspection Fee $0+$168=$168; anything not listed is billed at the standard hourly rates: Fire Code Specialist $112/hour, GIS Analyst $104/hour.one-time per project or per inspection visit2026-09-27
County Fire Annual Inspection and Re-Inspection (hourly rate)only if it applies to youSan Diego County Fire, Community Risk Reduction Division (Fire Marshal Program)$181 per hour, pro-rated to actual staff time including related administrative work; the same $181/hour rate applies to re-inspectionsannual — billed per inspection visit2026-09-27

Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.

About each permit

County Fire Plan Review and Inspection Fees

This fee table applies only to a business inside the San Diego County Fire Protection District or the Deer Springs Fire Protection District — the two service areas County Fire's own program page names — or inside another fire or municipal water district that has a Memorandum of Understanding with the County for fire plan review and inspection, per §362.5(b)(10) read verbatim off the fee ordinance. It never applies inside any of the 18 incorporated cities, each of which runs its own fire department, and it may not reach every unincorporated parcel if a given area's local fire district has no MOU with the County. New construction, a tenant improvement, a fire-alarm or suppression-system installation, and a special event using tents, temporary cooking or generators (relevant to a food truck at an event) each trigger a specific flat combined fee rather than a valuation-based calculation. The Fire Code Official can waive fees for minor over-the-counter work, disaster rebuilds in a Board-declared area, and disabled-veteran accessibility modifications.

County Fire Annual Inspection and Re-Inspection (hourly rate)

County Fire completes annual inspections of 'all businesses and commercial facilities, along with educational and institutional facilities, camps, apartment and condominium complexes and high-rises' inside its service area (the San Diego County and Deer Springs Fire Protection Districts, plus any MOU district), and, since a May 6, 2025 Board action, bills each inspection and each re-inspection at $181 an hour pro-rated to the actual time spent, rather than folding it into the flat project fees above. County Fire gives a worked example: 30 minutes of total staff time, including the associated paperwork, invoices at $90.50. The invoice goes to whichever party the space belongs to — a tenant in a leased commercial space is billed directly for its own space, while common areas (lobbies, restrooms, parking lots, building exteriors) are billed separately to the building's own contact.

Contact

Jurisdiction
San Diego County
Phone
(858) 974-5999

Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.

Sources

Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

  1. Fire Marshal Program — 'properties in the San Diego County Fire Protection District and Deer Springs Fire Protection District'San Diego County Fire · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  2. Inspection Fees Q&A — $181.00/hour for initial annual inspections and re-inspections, pro-rated, effective for inspections on or after July 1, 2025 (Board action May 6, 2025)San Diego County Fire · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  3. San Diego County Administrative Code §362.5, Schedule of San Diego County Fire Authority Fees and Standard Hourly Rates (added by Ord. No. 10301 (N.S.), effective 1-2-14) — full plan-review/inspection table and applicability clauseCounty of San Diego · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27

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