Fire Permits and Inspections for Long Beach Businesses: What the FY27 Fire Fee Schedule Charges, Hoods, Assembly and Annual Inspections

Most business pages in this series end at the Health Department or the Building counter. Fire sits alongside both. This page is part of the sequence for starting a business in Long Beach. It states what the Fire pages say, reads the FY27 fee schedule line by line, and says plainly what the schedule implies and what it does not. Dollar figures are as of October 2026.

The short answer

What the Fire Department says it does

The Bureau of Fire Prevention does “Fire Code Enforcement, Plan Check …” and more. Its Code Enforcement Section “performs annual inspections for compliance and issues permits for storage, use or handling of hazardous materials or hazardous activities”². The Bureau also enforces state underground tank rules and Right-to-Know laws, and its sections include New Construction/Plan Review, Special Events, Underground Tank/HazMat and Cannabis Planning and Enforcement².

The code enforcement page defines what a permit is for: “Fire Permits serve to track and document high-risk processes and services, with required annual inspections outlined in the fire code to ensure safe and designed use”³. That is the only definition on the pages used here, and it ties permits to processes and services, not to a business type.

When a business needs an inspection

The Department’s FAQ answers the question in one sentence: “You will be required to obtain a Fire Inspection when your business produces conditions hazardous to life or property and when your business is a place of assembly (occupancy of 50 or more people)”⁴. The FAQ is the only plain-language trigger on the pages used here. It does not list examples of hazardous conditions, and it does not say whether the two conditions are alternatives or both required, and the grid above lists them as separate rows.

Closing is covered by the same FAQ: account changes and closures go by form, faxed to Fire Prevention at 562-570-2566⁴. The broader closure steps are in Closing a Business in Long Beach.

What the city does not publish

The city’s Fire pages do not print the list of operational permit types, which businesses pay annual Fire permits, or the annual fee amounts²³. Whether annual Fire permits apply to salons or retail is not stated, and neither is how Fire and the Business License Division coordinate.

Where to check Fire permit invoice questions go to [email protected] or 562-570-2500; the Fire Prevention number in the city’s permit guide is 562.570.6208⁶. Fire Department Headquarters is at 3205 Lakewood Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90808, and does not take payment for these permits. Invoices are paid through Financial Management at 562-570-7600, online, by mail or at the City Hall cashier⁴.

What the FY27 fee schedule charges

The schedule is the Community Development Department’s Building and Safety Bureau document, headed “Fire Permit & Plan Review Fees”, “Fee Changes to be Effective 10/1/26”, “Last Updated: 10/1/26”, and “Includes General Plan Surcharge 6%”¹. It prices construction-side work: plan review before a permit, and inspection after.

Plan review

Source:¹. The schedule continues with larger device and head counts, standpipes, pumps and underground piping.

Several lines are set as “85% of Permit fee”: emergency access and egress plan review, high piled storage, hazardous materials outside “H” occupancies, and flammable liquid and hazardous material storage and mixing rooms¹.

Inspection

Source:¹. Life and safety inspection is priced by value, from $114 up to $2,000.

Hoods

The schedule sets hood plan review at “$599 per Hood”¹. The hood inspection fee is where the sources split.

Official pages disagree The adopted Fire Permit & Plan Review Fees PDF prints “Fire Suppression System Inspection $1,252 per Hood”¹. The city’s FY27 fee proposal lists “Fire Hood System Inspection” at $809 to $938 per hood, and hood plan review at $516 to $599⁷. The plan review figure matches the adopted schedule; the inspection figure does not. The adopted PDF also prints “Fire Suppression System Inspection $1,252” without “per Hood” earlier in the same list, so the hood line may repeat it. The adopted schedule is the document dated for October 1, 2026, and the proposal is labeled proposed; which figure an invoice carries is not stated on either page.

By the schedule’s arithmetic, one hood is $599 to review plus $1,252 to inspect, $1,851, or $599 plus $938, $1,537, on the proposal’s figure¹⁷. The restaurant sequence puts the hood inside the build-out order in How to Open a Restaurant in Long Beach.

Assembly and annual inspections

The fee schedule has no line named for a place of assembly. The FAQ’s 50-person trigger is the only assembly rule on the pages used, and the schedule’s closest lines are the valuation-based life and safety review and the $459 emergency access and egress inspection¹⁴. That pairing is an inference from the line names, not a statement on any page.

The same is true of annual inspections. The code enforcement page says required annual inspections are “outlined in the fire code”³, and the schedule has an “Off Hours Inspection” line at $340 per hour but no annual inspection line¹. The reading the pages support is that annual permits and inspections exist for “high-risk processes and services”, that the plan-check side is priced in the FY27 schedule, and that the annual side is not priced on the pages used here.

Event fire permits (operational permits for temporary assembly, tents and structures) are separate, and are described in Special Event, Occasional Event and Film Permits in Long Beach. Build-out sequencing, including when Fire plan review sits relative to the building permit, is in The Commercial Build-Out Sequence in Long Beach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a fire inspection for my business in Long Beach?

The Fire Department’s FAQ says an inspection is required “when your business produces conditions hazardous to life or property and when your business is a place of assembly (occupancy of 50 or more people)”; it does not say whether the two conditions are alternatives⁴.

How much is a fire hood plan review in Long Beach?

$599 per hood as of October 2026¹.

How much is a hood system inspection in Long Beach?

The adopted schedule prints $1,252 per hood; the city’s FY27 proposal listed $809 to $938. Which one applies is not stated on either page¹⁷.

Does Long Beach publish a list of fire permits for businesses?

Not on the Fire pages used here. They describe permits for “storage, use or handling of hazardous materials or hazardous activities” without listing types or annual fees²³.

Where do I pay a Long Beach fire permit invoice?

Through Financial Management (562-570-7600, online, by mail or at the City Hall cashier). Fire headquarters does not accept payment for these permits⁴.

How much is fire alarm plan review in Long Beach?

$526 for 1 to 5 devices, $1,051 for 6 to 10 devices and $1,198 for 11 to 50 devices, as of October 2026¹.

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