Pasadena
City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office
In short
City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office issues 8 permits we publish for Pasadena, last verified 2026-08-24. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit — Assembly Occupancy | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $250–$500 per year, by occupant load | one year, renewed annually | 2026-08-24 |
| Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit — Licensed Care Facility | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $100–$600 per year, by licensed capacity | one year, renewed annually | 2026-08-24 |
| Annual Fire and Life Safety Inspection | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $65 per hour — $65, $130, $195 or $260 for one to four hours | annual | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Fire Alarm Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $100 per year, renewal $50 | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Fire Plan Review — Building | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $230–$900 by building area | one-time, per review | 2026-08-24 |
| Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit — Multi-Family, Hotel or Motel | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $200–$400 per year, by dwelling units | one year, renewed annually | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Membrane Structure and Tent Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $125 per permit | per event | 2026-08-24 |
| High Pile Storage Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office | $475–$700 per year | one year, renewed annually | 2026-08-24 |
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
Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit — Assembly Occupancy
$250 for an occupant load of 1 to 99, $350 for 99 to 299, and $500 for 300 or more — an annual, recurring cost that catches every restaurant, bar, gym and event space in the city. Most Texas cities inspect assembly occupancies without charging a standing permit fee, so this is a real difference in the cost of operating in Pasadena rather than a paperwork difference. An occupant load evaluation, if you need the number established, is $100.
Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit — Licensed Care Facility
Day care and other facilities providing less than 24-hour care are banded by licensed capacity: $100 for 1 to 25 children, $150 for 26 to 49, $200 for 50 to 99, $250 for 100 to 149 and $300 for 150 or more. A group home day care licensed for 1 to 12 people is $100. Twenty-four-hour care is priced separately — foster and group foster homes at $100 for 1 to 6 children and $200 for 7 to 12; hospitals and nursing homes at $300 up to 99 beds, $400 for 100 to 199, $500 for 200 to 499 and $600 at 500 or more; other 24-hour facilities from $100 to $325 by occupant count.
Annual Fire and Life Safety Inspection
Charged by the hour, which means the bill depends on how long the inspection takes rather than on what kind of business you run. Reinspection after the initial visit and one free re-check is $150. An after-hours inspection is $375 for the first three hours and $70 for each further hour or part of one — worth comparing against closing for a morning.
Commercial Fire Alarm Permit
$100 for the first commercial year and $50 on renewal — the renewal is genuinely half price, which is unusual. A hospital or nursing home alarm is $500 and $250 to renew; residential is $50 and $25. Plan review is separate: $200 for up to 100 initiating devices, then $200 plus $1 per device above that, with sprinkler plan review priced identically per head.
Fire Plan Review — Building
$230 up to 50,000 sq ft, $345 from 50,001 to 100,000, $675 to 500,000 and $900 above that. Miscellaneous reviews are flat: an automatic extinguishing system $200, an emergency evacuation plan $150, and access control or mag locks $150. Fire plan review runs alongside the Permit Department's own plan review rather than instead of it, so a commercial project pays both.
Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit — Multi-Family, Hotel or Motel
$200 for 3 to 20 dwelling units and $400 for 21 or more. Flat above 21 units, so a 24-unit motel and a 300-unit apartment complex pay the same — which makes this proportionally expensive for a small property and cheap for a large one.
Temporary Membrane Structure and Tent Permit
$125 for a tent or temporary membrane structure. The rest of Pasadena's special assembly and pyrotechnics schedule sits with it: carnivals, circuses and car shows $400, explosives use or storage $400, fireworks displays $600, pyrotechnics use or storage $300, and commercial burn operations $350. Fire extinguisher training is $150 and an emergency generator or access gate permit $125 each.
High Pile Storage Permit
$475 and $700 for the two high pile storage levels the schedule sets out at 2,500 to 20,000 sq ft. Alongside it sit the rest of Pasadena's high hazard annual permits, which are the ones an industrial tenant needs to price before signing: Tier I hazardous materials storage $350, motor vehicle fuel dispensing $350, welding shops and iron works $300, lumberyards $260, industrial ovens $225, tyre storage $150, scrap metal yards $150, auto wrecking yards $150 and automotive repair $100. Hot work — welding, asphalt kettles, roof torching — is $300, an underground storage tank $200 and a product line inspection $200.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Pasadena
- Phone
- 713-475-5556
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.
- Fee Schedule — Sec. 13-12 Fire and Life Safety Operating Permit, Special Use Permits, and Inspections FeesCity of Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
Other offices serving Pasadena
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Texas jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.