The City of Walla Walla Fire Department Prevention Office is responsible for conducting fire and life safety inspections in approx. 1,850 commercial businesses and residential occupancies within the City of Walla Walla. The objectives of this program are to reduce the number of fires and property damage within our beautiful and historic community and potentially reduce insurance rates by improving the overall code compliance of the structure.

The goals of our Inspection Program are:

1. To protect our local businesses from financial losses sustained from fire,
2. To protect our citizens that live and work in these occupancies, and
3. Ensure the safety of the firefighters that respond to emergencies.

A fire inspection consists of a thorough site visit conducted by a certified fire inspector, who evaluates the occupancy for known hazards of fire and life safety as per the International Fire Code.  This visit also provides a unique opportunity to educate business owners on the causes of fire and methods to reduce or eliminate future fires. 

Our relationship with our local business owners is paramount to making Walla Walla a safe place to live, work, and play.  The WWFD strives to complete all commercial inspections annually and there is currently no cost for this service.

Commonly Found Violations

This information is provided to help you better understand some of the most common violations and help you prepare for your inspection. This is NOT a list of all possible violations.

Address: Must be located near the main entrance on the street side.  Minimum 4” numbers in contrasting colors to the background and must be visible from the street.

Combustible Storage: Minimum 18” from sprinkler head or 24” from the ceiling if there is no sprinkler system.

Commercial Cooking Hoods: Must follow cleaning and inspection schedule depending on volume of cooking (every 3 months- annually).

Door Locks: Double-keyed locks, deadbolts, padlocks, chains, bars shall not be installed on marked exits.

Electrical Outlet and Switch Covers: Open junction boxes and electrical outlets must be covered.

Electrical Panels: Shall have clearance of 36”x30”x72” and no tape holding breakers in the “on” position.

Electrical Power Strips: Can be used if they are circuit breaker protected.  They must be plugged directly into the wall. “Daisy-chaining” surge protectors together is not allowed.

Electrical Rooms: Must be identified on the outside of the door and cannot be used for combustible storage.

Emergency Lighting: Shall illuminate means of egress and work on battery/ emergency power.

Exit Corridor and Path: Shall maintain 44” clear path at all times for occupancies over 50 people, 36” for occupancies with less than 50 people.

Exit signs: Shall be posted to show exit path.  All exit bulbs shall work on normal (AC) power and battery (DC) power.

Extension Cords: Cannot be used as permanent wiring (exceeding 90 days).  Cannot run through walls, ceilings, doorways, floors, or windows.

Fire Alarms: Require annual inspection and should have a valid inspection tag.  Local alarms shall be labeled as “Local Alarm- When Alarm Sounds Call 911”.

Fire Extinguishers: Accessible within 75’ of travel and on every floor level.  Minimum size 2A-10BC mounted 3-5’ from the floor.  All extinguishers should have a valid inspection tag.

Heating Equipment: Space heaters shall have proper clearance of 36” from combustibles and have built in temperature and tip-over protection.

Means of Egress: Shall be unobstructed at all times, including the exit access, the exit itself, and the exit discharge.

Occupant Load: Should be posted in all assembly occupancies (calculated by the building dept.).

Sprinkler Systems: Shall have an annual inspection and a valid tag.

Service Intervals for Fire Protection Systems

The 2015 International Fire Code and other referenced standards specify the service intervals for the Fire Protection Systems listed below.  The building owner or designee is responsible for maintaining fire and life safety systems.  Maintenance, inspection, and testing of these systems require certified personnel and all inspection reports shall be submitted to the WWFD at wwfdreports@wallawallawa.gov  

For more information regarding our inspection program or to schedule an inspection in your business, please call 509-524-4422 or by email at wwfdinspect@wallawallawa.gov.