Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Fire Marshal's Office

Fire Marshal Plan Review & Inspections

This record applies only in unincorporated Hillsborough County: Hillsborough County Fire Rescue 'fights fires and provides emergency medical services for the unincorporated areas of the county,' while Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City each operate their own municipal fire department with its own life-safety inspection and permit regime. Plan review is required alongside building permits for new construction or buildout, and routine or certificate-of-occupancy inspections apply to ongoing occupancy, with restaurant, childcare and fitness-studio uses especially likely to trigger assembly- or cooking-hazard-related review. A separate County Code clearance sits inside the business-tax chapter rather than the fire code itself: County Code §46-186 (Ord. No. 95-4, §27.01, adopted 5-22-1995) bars the Tax Collector from issuing a business tax receipt to operate a dance hall in the unincorporated areas of the county until the Fire Marshal has inspected and approved the building — potentially relevant to a fitness studio if its space is classified as an assembly or dance-hall use rather than ordinary commercial space.