The following steps are a guide to help you through the new construction process within our fire district boundaries.

1. Prior to any building plans being submitted for approval, The Fire Prevention Bureau recommends submitting your plan to the fire department for a Preliminary Plan Review. This review will identify any issues with the site plan such as top of slope and sideyard set backs, hydrant location, access, hosepull, or any other unique issues that may be involved with the proposed project. The Fire Prevention Bureau is available to meet with you after the plan review is completed to go over any questions you may have regarding your project. This type of plan review does include a fee but we feel that it is worth the expense to the homeowner to identify any issues before the project gets started rather than risk having the project delayed by items that could have been avoided.
2. Plan Submittal: Two sets of building plans are required to be submitted to the County of San Diego for review. Once the building plans pass the County review then the two sets of plans are submitted to Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District for review.
3. For RSFFPD plan submittal: The original two sets of plans that the County has reviewed are required to have every sheet date stamped by the County. A Fire Mitigation form issued from the County will also be submitted at this time.
4. There is a fee due at the time the plans are checked in to our Administration Office in the form of either check or credit card (Visa or Mastercard). The plan review process takes approximately 15 business days, depending on the work load of the plan reviewer. The fee covers the original submittal and a re-submittal. If the corrections noted in the first review have not be corrected in the re-submittal, then there will be an additional fee associated with every subsequent resubmittal.
5. The plan reviewer will then note any corrections that need to be made and notify the contact person for the project that the plans are ready for pick-up. If there are not any corrections then the plan reviewer will stamp both sets of plans and notify the contact person the plans are ready for pick-up. Please refrain from contacting the plan reviewer to check on the status of the plans. If the contact person has not been notified that the plans are ready for pick-up then it simply means the plans have yet to be reviewed.
6. Once the two sets of plans have been stamped and approved then they go back to the County for the issuance of the building permit.
7. There will be additional plans involved with new construction such as fire sprinklers and landscape, but these will be submitted separately from the building plans. Any additional plans required to be submitted will be noted on the building plan in the “Fire Marshal Approved” stamp.
8. If any additional plans are required for the project then the plans must be approved by RSFFPD before any inspections will be conducted. It is important to note that plans such as fire sprinklers will require a third party consultant review prior to RSFFPD review.
9. Once all of the plans required for the project have been reviewed and approved, inspections may be requested via email: scheduling@rsf-fire.org.
10. It is very important to note that Fire will not sign off for Final inspection if the complete landscape per the approved plans has not been installed.
11. Once the Final inspection has passed for Fire, then the County Building Inspector will have the last sign off for the project.

Be sure to include the address of the project, plan check number (given at the time of plan review), the type of inspection being requested, a preferred date/time, and the contact information of the person that will be at the inspection.