California's fire alarm zoning rewrite is on its way out of 907.6.4

The rule that's leaving

Here's the thing: right now, both the California Building Code and the California Fire Code carry a seven-item California rewrite of the model fire alarm zoning section. Open 907.6.4 in either book today and it's all there.

Each building on a shared system is its own zone. Each floor is a zone. Each fire-wall or horizontal-exit section is a zone. Zones cap at 22,500 square feet and 300 feet. Group I-3 cell complexes are zones. Group H and L occupancies at the 11th story and above are zoned on each side of the 2-hour fire-smoke barrier. And the catch-all: "Annunciation shall be further divided into zones where deemed necessary by the enforcing agency."

Verified against the live code text. Open §907.6.4 in the 2025 CBC or CFC today and all seven California items are present — item 1 ("Where the fire-protective signaling system serves more than one building, each building shall be considered as a separate zone") through item 7 ("Annunciation shall be further divided into zones where deemed necessary by the enforcing agency").

The final express terms in the State Fire Marshal's SFM 01/25 (CBC) and SFM 03/25 (CFC) packages pull most of that apart.

What the final text does

The rewrite goes, and the model zoning language comes back:

"Each floor shall be zoned separately and a zone shall not exceed 22,500 square feet (2090 m2). The length of any zone shall not exceed 300 feet (91 440 mm) in any direction."

The NFPA 13 sprinkler-zone exception stays — automatic sprinkler system zones still follow the area NFPA 13 permits.

Three of the California items are deleted outright, with nothing put in their place:

• The per-building rule — "each building … a separate zone."
• The fire-wall / horizontal-exit rule.
• The enforcing-agency catch-all.

Two items aren't gone — they relocate. The Group I-3 cell-complex zoning moves into 907.2.6.3.4. The Group H and L 11th-story-and-above zoning (each side of the 2-hour fire-smoke barrier) moves into 907.2.5.1 (H) and 907.2.28.1 (L), the sections that already govern 11th-story manual-fire-alarm-box placement. And the high-rise provisions stay put: 907.6.4.2 (a separate zone by floor in high-rises and Group I-2) and 907.6.4.3 (the high-rise zoning annunciator panel) are untouched.

The State Fire Marshal's stated purpose, in the plain words of the rulemaking record, is to repeal or relocate outdated or duplicative amendments that referenced standards already cover, and to align California with the national model.

Two NFPA 72 changes ride along

The same packages amend NFPA 72-2025 in two spots.

12.4.2 Pathway Survivability Level 1 gets a second option. The existing Level 1 path — a building fully sprinklered to NFPA 13, with interconnecting conductors and cables protected by metal raceways or metal armored cables — stays. The amendment adds a path for buildings sprinklered to NFPA 13R: the same metal-raceway or metal-armored-cable protection, but "installed in sprinkler protected areas only." If a 13R-sprinklered building needs Pathway Survivability Level 1, there's now a second path to get there.

26.2.11.3 is deleted. That section required alarm service provider (ASP) facilities — the ones delivering signals to a supervising station — to conform to UL 827, Central-Station Alarm Services: its requirements — covering construction, fire protection, physical security, cybersecurity, power, service resiliency and more. Delete the section and that UL 827 hook is gone from the code text.

What it means for your next set

If you design fire alarm on campuses or multi-building systems: the "each building is its own zone" mandate and the "each fire-wall section is a zone" mandate are not in the final text. Zoning returns to a single rule — floor by floor, 22,500 square feet, 300 feet, with the NFPA 13 exception intact.

If you're a plan checker: the enforcing-agency catch-all is the one to watch. The code basis for demanding extra zones "where deemed necessary" is being removed, and so is the UL 827 basis for ASP facilities. The I-3 and H/L zoning you used to cite from 907.6.4 doesn't disappear — it just lives in a new place, so check the relocated sections, not the deleted list.

Two cautions. First, these are final express terms that went before the Building Standards Commission in late August 2026 — proposed final language, not something you can yet treat as adopted and in effect. Confirm the recorded action and the effective date with the BSC before you rely on it. Second, local amendments vary; verify any zoning or survivability call with your AHJ.

What CrossBeam does with it

CrossBeam checks plans against the controlling code text and watches the sections that are changing, so a reviewer isn't leaning on a rule that's on its way out — or missing the new 13R pathway. When the final text lands, the review moves with it.