Parking Garage Fire Protection in Ontario: What's Changed and Why It Matters

For decades, parking garages were treated as one of the lowest fire risk areas in a commercial or residential building. Concrete structures, open ventilation, and slow-burning vehicles meant many open parking garages were never sprinklered at all, and enclosed garages were protected at the lowest commercial hazard level the code allowed. That assumption no longer holds, and the codes governing parking garage fire protection have changed substantially to reflect it.

If you own or manage a building with an attached or underground parking garage in Ontario, two things have shifted recently that directly affect your compliance obligations and your risk exposure: the sprinkler protection level required for parking structures has increased, and new Ontario Fire Code carbon monoxide requirements now apply specifically to units and areas adjacent to parking garages.

Why the Risk Profile Changed

Modern vehicles carry a larger fuel and combustible load than the vehicles the original parking garage fire codes were written around. Larger fuel tanks, more plastic and composite components, and — increasingly — electric and hybrid vehicles with lithium-ion battery packs all burn hotter, spread faster, and are harder to extinguish than a standard gasoline vehicle fire from even fifteen years ago.

An EV battery fire involves thermal runaway, a chemical chain reaction inside the battery cells that can reignite a vehicle hours after the original fire appears to be out, and that standard sprinkler discharge alone may not fully suppress. Fire services across North America have responded to several high-profile parking structure fires in the last few years that destroyed hundreds of vehicles and, in at least one widely reported case, caused a partial structural collapse — incidents that directly informed the code changes below.

What Changed in NFPA 13 and NFPA 88A

The 2022 edition of NFPA 13 — the standard governing sprinkler system design that Ontario's Fire Code and Building Code rely on — reclassified automobile parking structures from Ordinary Hazard Group 1 to Ordinary Hazard Group 2. In practical terms, that raised the minimum required sprinkler density from 0.15 gallons per minute per square foot to 0.20 gallons per minute per square foot over a 1,500-square-foot design area, with a further density increase required where dry-pipe systems are used to protect against freezing.

At the same time, NFPA 88A — the dedicated standard for parking structures — moved to require full sprinkler protection in essentially all new parking structures, closing the long-standing exception that allowed many open parking garages to go unsprinklered entirely. Some insurers, including major commercial property insurers, have gone further still, treating parking garages as an even higher hazard category for underwriting purposes.

• Older garage = lower bar: many existing Ontario parking structures were designed and approved under earlier, lower-density requirements and are not required to be retrofitted unless triggered by renovation, change of use, or an AHJ order
• New construction = higher bar: any new build or major retrofit permitted today will be held to the current density and protection requirements, which means more sprinkler heads, larger water supply demand, and tighter hydraulic design tolerances than older buildings in the same portfolio
• Dry-pipe penalty: unheated parking structures using dry-pipe systems to prevent freezing face a meaningfully larger design area requirement than wet-pipe systems, which affects pipe sizing, water supply, and cost at the design stage

The New CO Alarm Requirement for Units Near Parking Garages

Separately from the sprinkler density changes, Ontario's Fire Code amendments effective January 1, 2026 introduced new carbon monoxide alarm requirements that specifically capture residential units located beside or above a parking garage or furnace room. Where a dwelling unit is adjacent to or directly above a parking garage, a CO alarm is now required near the sleeping area of that unit, in addition to the broader expansion of CO alarm coverage to every storey of a home.

This matters for condo corporations and property managers in particular. Vehicle exhaust, idling, and the potential for a parking garage fire to generate carbon monoxide that migrates into adjacent occupied space are exactly the scenario this amendment is meant to address. Condominium corporations are treated as joint owners of units for Fire Code compliance purposes, which means the corporation carries a duty to take reasonable steps to confirm owners and tenants in CO-affected units are actually compliant — not just to post a notice and move on.

The Corrosion Problem Most Buildings Miss

Parking garages create a corrosive atmosphere — road salt, vehicle exhaust, and moisture all accelerate corrosion of exposed metal far faster than in a typical occupied space. The Ontario Fire Code requires that sprinkler piping subject to a corrosive atmosphere be provided with a protective coating that resists corrosion and that the coating be maintained in proper condition. This is a requirement that is easy to overlook during a standard annual inspection if the technician isn't specifically checking pipe coating condition in the garage, and it's one of the more common deficiencies we find when we take over inspection of a building's system from a previous provider.

Corroded, unprotected sprinkler piping in a parking garage isn't just a code finding — it's a direct threat to the reliability of the one system most likely to be relied on if a vehicle fire does start in that space. Where standpipes also run through the garage, the same corrosive environment applies — see our standpipe systems Ontario requirements guide for the related maintenance obligations.

What This Means for Ontario Building Owners and Property Managers

• If you're planning any renovation, change of use, or addition that touches the parking structure, expect your fire protection design to be held to the current Ordinary Hazard Group 2 density — not the lower density the original building may have been designed to
• Confirm whether any units in your building are adjacent to or above the parking garage and verify CO alarm coverage meets the January 2026 requirements for those specific units
• Add sprinkler pipe coating condition to your garage-area inspection checklist specifically — this is a corrosive environment and the Fire Code holds you to a higher maintenance standard there than in a typical occupied floor
• If your building has EV charging infrastructure in the parking structure, or is adding it, flag this during design and insurance review — EV-specific fire risk is actively reshaping both code requirements and underwriting standards
• Keep design density, hydraulic calculations, and inspection records for the parking garage system on file and accessible — this is exactly the kind of documentation an AHJ or insurer will ask for after an incident or during a compliance review

How First National Fire Protection Can Help

We design, install, and inspect sprinkler systems for parking structures across the GTA and Ontario, and we factor current NFPA 13 hazard classification and corrosion protection requirements into every parking garage system we touch — whether that's a new installation, a retrofit, or an annual inspection of an existing system. If you're not sure whether your parking garage system reflects current density requirements, or whether your sprinkler piping has the corrosion protection the Fire Code requires, that's exactly the kind of gap we identify and fix before it becomes an inspection order or a claim issue after a loss.

Contact First National Fire Protection today for a complete parking garage fire protection assessment.