Received A Council Fire Order?

A Council Fire Order is a formal direction requiring a building owner to correct identified fire safety deficiencies, install or upgrade fire protection measures, provide supporting certification or restrict the use of an unsafe building. In NSW, these orders are generally issued by councils under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

A Council Fire Order requires prompt, organised action, not panic. Confirm what has been issued, identify every deadline, assess the whole building, appoint appropriately qualified specialists and communicate with council before committing to works. Delays, fragmented repairs and poor documentation commonly make Fire Orders more expensive and difficult to close.

In NSW, councils may issue fire safety orders under the development control order provisions of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Fire safety orders are identified separately from general development control orders in Schedule 5 of the Act.

The purpose of an Order is not simply to bring paperwork up to date. Council is responding to a concern that the building may not provide an adequate level of safety for occupants, emergency responders or neighbouring properties.

Depending on the deficiencies identified, an Order may require the owner to:

The first page of the document should tell you whether it is:

Do not treat these documents as interchangeable. The rights, deadlines and strategic options available to you can change depending on the stage reached.

For example, City of Sydney states that it ordinarily issues a Notice of Intention before giving an Order. Its published process allows the owner 14 days from the date of the notice to indicate in writing that they wish to make representations.

Other councils may specify different representation periods. The period written on your notice, not a timeframe found in a general online guide, must control your immediate response.

An emergency situation can follow a different process. Where council considers that urgent action is necessary, the usual opportunity to make representations before an Order is issued may not apply in the same way.

This is why the first practical task is document classification. Before discussing repairs, determine exactly what council has issued, when it was served, who received it and which rights or deadlines have started running.

The Order may address both obvious equipment faults and broader failures involving exits, construction, maintenance, documentation or building use.

A missing Annual Fire Safety Statement can itself lead to enforcement. Wollongong City Council states that it may issue a Fire Safety Order where an Annual Fire Safety Statement has not been submitted on time.

An Annual Fire Safety Statement confirms the status of the essential fire safety measures listed on the building’s fire safety schedule. Owners must also ensure that the current statement and fire safety schedule are prominently displayed in the building (Fire & Rescue NSW).

That change makes reliable maintenance records increasingly important. An overdue inspection, unresolved defect or contractor report that cannot be reconciled with the fire safety schedule may prevent certification and expose wider deficiencies that have accumulated over several years.

The inspection is often broader than a routine service visit.

Depending on the premises, council officers or specialist advisers may consider:

A routine maintenance contractor normally inspects equipment within an agreed service scope. Council, by contrast, may assess whether the building’s overall fire safety arrangements remain adequate.

This is where owners can be caught off guard. A contractor may have serviced the hydrants or extinguishers correctly while substantial passive fire defects, undocumented alterations or inconsistencies in the fire safety schedule remain outside that contractor’s brief.

Wollongong City Council states that the building owner is responsible for ensuring that an issued Fire Safety Order is complied with.

For a strata building, the owners corporation will commonly need to coordinate the response where the Order concerns common property or whole-building systems.

The strata committee may make operational decisions, while significant expenditure or access to individual lots may require further governance steps.

A managing agent or facilities manager can coordinate contractors, inspections and records, but delegation does not make the Order disappear from the owner’s risk profile.

Tenants may have responsibilities under their lease, particularly where their fitout or operations caused a defect. However, contractual cost recovery between owner and tenant is separate from council’s enforcement process.

The practical response is to establish authority early. Identify who can:

Without clear authority, even a technically straightforward Order can stall for weeks.

City of Sydney advises that owners will be given a reasonable period based on the complexity of the improvements and that deadlines may be staged.

This does not mean every timeframe will be commercially convenient. A council deadline reflects the risk being addressed, not the owner’s preferred capital works program.

As soon as the document arrives, record:

Do not assume that asking council a question suspends a deadline. Unless council confirms a change in writing, work on the basis that the original date remains effective.

Do not begin isolated repairs until the Order has been interpreted against the fire safety schedule, approved plans and actual site conditions.

Owners sometimes focus on the covering letter and overlook the schedule containing the actual directions.

Read the entire document, including:

Separate each requirement into a compliance register and for every item, record:

Collect the:

A missing fire safety schedule is not a minor filing inconvenience. It can make it difficult to establish which measures apply, what standard of performance was approved and what must ultimately be certified.

NSW guidance allows a council or certifier to reissue a fire safety schedule in certain circumstances to correct minor errors or omissions or replace a missing schedule (NSW Gov).

One person should control the technical response. Depending on the Order, this may be a suitably experienced:

Most building owners benefit from engaging an experienced fire safety practitioner before commencing rectification works. This is typically where a specialist assessment becomes essential.

The lead adviser should be able to translate council’s directions into an integrated scope of work rather than sending each line item to a different contractor without coordination.

An Order may be relevant to property, public liability, professional indemnity, business interruption or directors and officers insurance.

Legal advice may be appropriate where:

The exact pathway depends on whether the Order requires maintenance, repair, upgrading, certification, building work or a change to occupancy.

In practice, opening up a small number of representative locations often reveals whether an apparent local defect is isolated or systemic.

That decision should be made carefully. Unnecessary destructive investigation adds cost, while insufficient investigation can leave major defects undiscovered.

Straightforward maintenance defects may be repaired directly.

Upgrades affecting exits, structural fire resistance, hydrant coverage, sprinkler design, smoke control or performance solutions generally require a coordinated design before installation.

AS 2419.1:2021 addresses the design, installation, commissioning and testing of fire hydrant installations used to protect buildings and other specified facilities.

The standard applied to a particular building is not chosen simply because it is the newest edition available.

The approved design, relevant NCC edition, fire safety schedule, consent conditions and scope of proposed work must all be considered.

The contractor’s invoice is not evidence that an Order has been satisfied.

Council may require:

Where hidden passive fire work is involved, record the:

That evidence is often the difference between a repair that can be certified and one that must later be reopened.

Submit the evidence requested and obtain written confirmation from council that all requirements have been satisfied or that the Order has otherwise been discharged.

Maintain the closure package with the permanent building records. Future owners, practitioners and insurers may need to understand what was upgraded and which standards or approved solutions were applied.

An extension request based only on cost, delay or contractor availability is unlikely to be persuasive without supporting evidence.

The best time to raise scope issues is often during the Notice of Intention stage.

A well-prepared representation may identify:

An extension request should include more than “we need additional time”.

Cumberland City Council advises that an extension application should be supported by reasons or evidence of hardship and should include a works proposal explaining how and when outstanding work will be completed.

A credible request commonly includes:

Keep working while the request is considered unless council confirms otherwise. An extension should not become a reason to pause investigation or procurement.

Because appeal rights and procedural consequences are legal matters, obtain advice immediately if an appeal is being considered.

Both Wollongong City Council and Cumberland City Council publish a 28-day appeal period for Fire Safety Orders.

An appeal should not be used as a substitute for technical investigation.

The owner needs to understand whether the dispute concerns:

Even where an appeal is contemplated, immediate life-safety risks may still need temporary controls. Legal strategy and risk management should run in parallel.

It also leaves the owner exposed if a fire or evacuation incident occurs while known defects remain unresolved.

The most immediate commercial problem is usually loss of control. Once deadlines expire, council may have fewer reasons to accept informal assurances or owner-preferred sequencing.

Potential consequences include:

The presence of an Order also creates a documented history. After an incident, investigators may examine what the owner knew, when they knew it and what steps were taken.

That does not mean every Order requires an immediate full-building reconstruction.

It means the owner should be able to demonstrate an organised, risk-based and properly resourced response from the date the document was received.

The most common failures are delay, fragmented investigation, premature repairs and inadequate evidence.

These mistakes can turn a manageable compliance project into a prolonged dispute involving repeated inspections and duplicated work.

Owners often spend the first week circulating the notice internally, then discover that the right consultants cannot inspect before the response deadline.

Appoint the lead adviser early. A preliminary assessment can be refined later, but a missed deadline is difficult to recover.

An Order is not always a list of broken components. It may reflect concern about the building’s overall evacuation, compartmentation or firefighting strategy.

We regularly see contractors rectify the visible item without examining why it failed or whether the same condition exists elsewhere.

A contractor may be capable of installing equipment but may not be responsible for determining whether the proposed work satisfies the Order, NCC, approved fire engineering report or fire safety schedule.

Design first where design is required.

Otherwise, owners risk paying twice: once for the quick repair and again for the compliant solution.

Passive fire defects commonly sit above ceilings, inside risers and around building services.

A surface inspection cannot always establish whether fire-resisting construction is continuous.

Representative investigation should be carefully scoped, recorded and expanded where findings suggest a systemic problem.

An Annual Fire Safety Statement relates to the measures and assessment process applicable to that statement.

It does not necessarily establish that every part of the building complies with every current NCC provision.

An older building may lawfully operate under historic approvals, fire engineered solutions or specific upgrade requirements. Conversely, an Annual Fire Safety Statement does not legitimise later unauthorised alterations.

One of the most common issues is technically acceptable work that cannot be verified afterwards.

Photographs without locations, product labels without installation details and contractor invoices without test results rarely form a strong closure package.

A productive phone call with council is useful, but owners should confirm material decisions, revised dates and accepted evidence in writing.

Staff changes occur. A clear written record protects both the owner and council officer from later misunderstanding.

Their role is to interpret the requirements, investigate the building, assemble the right disciplines, sequence the work and produce evidence council can assess.

For example, a proposed ceiling replacement may affect sprinklers, detectors, emergency lighting, exit signs, smoke barriers and access panels.

Treating each service separately creates clashes, rework and certification gaps.

The most efficient approach is to front-load investigation and planning, prioritise genuine life-safety risks, package related works together and maintain transparent communication with council.

Speed comes from better coordination, not from starting construction before the problem is understood.

Convert the Order into tasks, owners, evidence requirements and dates.

Update it at least weekly during active work.

Temporary controls may include:

They must be appropriate to the risk and should not be treated as permanent substitutes for required works.

Confirm which standards, approved plans and performance solutions apply before procurement.

Late design changes are one of the most expensive features of Fire Order projects.

Coordinate ceiling access, electrical isolation, scaffolding, tenant disruption and final testing across multiple measures.

This can reduce duplicated access and make certification more coherent.

Provide concise, evidence-based updates where the Order or agreed process calls for them.

Report progress, explain genuine delays and provide revised dates supported by actions already taken.

Do not wait until the end to ask what certification is available.

Define evidence requirements in each contractor’s scope and audit documentation before areas are closed.

The Order may address historic defects, but ongoing routine servicing and Annual Fire Safety Statement obligations remain.

The objective is not simply to remove council from the project. It is to leave the building with accurate records, maintainable systems and a defensible compliance process.

Receiving a Council Fire Order is serious, but it does not automatically mean the building is unsafe beyond repair or that every system must be replaced.

The best outcomes usually come from disciplined early action:

In our experience, owners run into difficulty when they treat the Order as correspondence to be answered rather than a project to be managed.

A successful response requires governance, technical coordination, documentation and commercial planning.

The practical goal is to satisfy council without carrying out unnecessary work, while ensuring that every retained or upgraded fire safety measure can perform as required.

That balance is achieved through proper investigation and evidence—not shortcuts.

Important Disclaimer: This article is general in nature and does not constitute legal or building compliance advice. Always consult a licensed fire safety practitioner and review relevant legislation for your property classification.