Alaska building code plan review: the 2021 IBC and IFC in 13 AAC 50, Fire Marshal or local review, and the BEES energy standard

Which Alaska codes apply to a set of drawings?

AS 18.70.080 has the Department of Public Safety set minimum fire and life safety standards for commercial, industrial, business, institutional, or other public buildings and for buildings used for residential purposes containing four or more dwelling units, and lets it charge fees for plan checks. The Division of Fire and Life Safety, which its Plan Review Bureau page calls the State Building Official, carries that out through 13 AAC 50. Under 13 AAC 50.027, before the construction, alteration, repair, or change of occupancy of a building it regulates begins, the owner or the owner’s representative submits plans and specifications showing the building’s location on the property, area, height, number of stories, occupancy, type of construction, fire-resistive construction, interior finish, exits, electrical and mechanical systems, fuel tanks, and fire extinguishing and alarm systems. The review does not address structural considerations, or mechanical or electrical design beyond what fire and life safety require, and the bureau adds general accessibility beyond fire and life safety to that list. The amended IBC scope excludes detached one-, two-, and three-family dwellings, and the bureau exempts residential housing of a three-plex or smaller; townhouses of not more than three stories with a separate means of egress are still plan reviewed to the IBC, with fire walls built to IBC Section 706 or as two one-hour assemblies tested to Section 703.2.2. A building whose construction, alteration, repair, or change in occupancy began on or after December 5, 1956 may not be occupied without approved plans. Under 13 AAC 50.075 the Fire Marshal may exempt a municipality that has the expertise and ordinances to review plans and agrees to run a fire safety inspection program, and 13 AAC 55.030 bars a local jurisdiction from setting fire and life safety standards less stringent than the state’s without the Fire Marshal’s written approval and requires local revisions to those codes to be submitted to the Fire Marshal.

The Division’s posted copy of 13 AAC 50 to 13 AAC 55 shows the code sections last amended October 28, 2022, Register 244, and the Legislature’s Alaska Administrative Code carries the same 2021 editions. 13 AAC 50.020 adopts the 2021 IBC, Chapters 1 to 12, 14 to 28, and 30 to 35 and Appendix C, so IBC Chapter 13 on energy efficiency and Chapter 29 on plumbing systems are not adopted. It replaces references to NFPA 70 with the electrical code adopted in 8 AAC 70.025, replaces references to the International Plumbing Code and the International Fuel Gas Code, except IFGC Section 304 and Chapters 6 and 7, with the plumbing code adopted in 8 AAC 63.010, and deletes the references to the IECC, IPMC, IPSDC, IRC, and IWUIC. 13 AAC 50.021 adopts the 2021 IEBC, Chapters 1 to 16 and Appendices A to C; 13 AAC 50.023 the 2021 IMC, Chapters 1 to 15 and Appendix A; 13 AAC 50.024 IFGC Section 304 and Chapters 6 and 7; and 13 AAC 50.025 the 2021 IFC, Chapters 1 to 12, 20 to 40, 50 to 67, and 80 with Appendices B to I, K, L, and N. Single-station smoke detection follows NFPA 72 (2019) under 13 AAC 50.030. Checked November 6, 2026; the Division’s posted file is titled effective October 28, 2022, so ask the Plan Review Bureau whether a later amendment applies to your application.

The Alaska amendments change what a reviewer looks for. Plans for construction built out of state or manufactured off site must be sealed by a design professional registered in Alaska and plan reviewed before the building is placed on its foundation. Fire protection shop drawings must be sealed by a registered design professional or signed and dated by a fire systems permit holder under 13 AAC 50.035, with at least two sets submitted and one approved set kept on site during installation. Group E buildings are sprinklered throughout, a fire wall does not create a separate building for that purpose, the exception is limited to an occupant load of 50 or less, and every part of an educational building below the level of exit discharge is sprinklered. Group R-1 buildings are sprinklered throughout; Group R-2 buildings are too, except buildings of no more than two stories, including basements, that contain four or fewer dwelling units or 16 or fewer sleeping rooms, and fire walls may create no more than three attached buildings for that purpose; Group R-4 buildings get an NFPA 13R system. Where an R occupancy with an occupant load over 10 is allowed to go unsprinklered under those exceptions, its corridors are one-hour rated. Camps outside a fire department service area need smoke detection in buildings used for sleeping, more than 12 interconnected smoke alarms need supervised interconnection, and acceptance test certificates for fire protection systems, including alarm, smoke control, and alternative extinguishing systems, go to the Division or the deferred authority within 30 days of completion. Elevated buildings open on the sides need fencing or skirting where the underside of the floor framing is more than two feet above grade, with listed exceptions; a fire wall in a building on pilings may stop at the first floor under listed conditions; every building must adjoin or have access to a permanent public way or yard on at least one side; and electrical weatherheads go on the gable ends where a metal roof is installed. Appendix LL adds rules for oil and gas processing buildings, and Appendix NN sets repair levels for buildings damaged in a declared disaster. In the IMC, direct-vent combustion vents must be at least three feet high or protected from snowdrifts. In the IFC, the fire chief of the registered fire department may require access roads, premises identification, key boxes, fire protection water supplies, and emergency responder radio coverage, and the submittal must document that the fire chief took part in those discussions.

Three subjects stay with the design team. The amended IBC Section 1601.1 adopts the structural chapter as design criteria, says the Division does not review for it, and makes structural compliance, local flood ordinances, and the National Flood Insurance Program the responsibility of the owner or design professional of record; Section 1701.1 does the same for tests and special inspections, whose findings must be kept for the life of the building; and Section 1101.1 makes accessibility the exclusive responsibility of the owner or design professional of record. Federal accessibility law still applies. For complex plans, 13 AAC 50.027 lets the Fire Marshal send them to the International Code Council for review at the applicant’s cost.

Applications, documents, and fees go through the Fire Marshal’s Community Portal. The Plan Review Bureau says plans are reviewed after the fee is paid, processing typically takes two to four weeks after full payment, a permit is issued once review is complete, the approval certificate must be posted as 13 AAC 55.100(b) requires, and no separate certificate of occupancy is issued; work started without approval pays a special processing fee equal to the plan review fee. Its plan review courtesy checklist names the deficiencies reviewers find most often: fire extinguishers, emergency lights and exit signs, two exit paths with occupant loads, the fire department access letter, fire protection systems, required fire separations, a dimensioned site plan, heating and ventilation equipment ratings, stair rise and run, guards, and handrails, stair and corridor widths, the listing type, size, and location of fuel tanks, and construction details of the foundation, walls, roof, and floor.

The bureau lists the deferred jurisdictions that handle plan review locally: the Anchorage Fire Department and Anchorage Building Safety, Palmer, Juneau, Fairbanks, Kenai, Ketchikan, Seward, Kodiak, Sitka, Soldotna, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Central Mat-Su FSA. Their codes can differ from the state’s. The Municipality of Anchorage’s Development Services codes page lists its 2024 local amendments as effective May 18, 2026: AMC 23.05.010 adopts the 2024 IBC, IMC, Uniform Plumbing Code, IFC, IECC, IEBC, IRC, and IFGC, the 2023 NEC, ASME A17.1 (2019), and ASME A18.1 (2020), while AO No. 2026-33, passed April 14, 2026, takes effect thirty days after passage, so confirm which code applied to an application filed in mid-May 2026. Anchorage’s administrative code does not require changes to a project with a lawful permit whose construction is pursued in good faith within 180 days after the effective date, and Title 23 makes the Municipality’s permit, plan review, and inspection processes optional outside the Anchorage Building Safety Service Area, so for a site outside it ask Anchorage and the Plan Review Bureau which office reviews fire and life safety. The City of Fairbanks building codes page lists the 2018 IBC, IRC, IEBC, IMC, IFGC, IFC, IECC, and Uniform Plumbing Code and the 2020 NEC with local amendment ordinances and shows no effective date; those are older editions than 13 AAC 50 adopts, so ask the city which edition it applies to fire and life safety. Juneau’s adopted editions were not read for this guide; confirm them with the City and Borough’s building division.

Plumbing and electrical codes come from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Mechanical Inspection section. 8 AAC 63.010 adopts the 2018 Uniform Plumbing Code, Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa and Hot Tub Code, and Uniform Solar, Hydronics and Geothermal Code with Alaska revisions, last amended April 24, 2020 according to the department’s plumbing code pamphlet. State plumbing inspectors work in communities of 2,500 and above, and AS 18.60.735 exempts an organized municipality or unorganized village of fewer than 2,500. 8 AAC 70.025 adopts the 2020 NEC and the 2017 National Electrical Safety Code, and state electrical inspectors cover all commercial structures and dwellings of a three-plex and above, so a triplex the Fire Marshal does not plan review still gets a state electrical inspection. The department’s posted electrical statutes and regulations pamphlet, dated May 2018, still prints the 2017 NEC in 8 AAC 70.025, and the date the 2020 edition took effect was not found, so confirm it with Mechanical Inspection. The Municipality of Anchorage inspects electrical, plumbing, and elevator work under a memorandum of agreement, and elsewhere elevators follow the ASME A17.1 (2016) and A18.1 (2017) editions Mechanical Inspection lists under 8 AAC 77.005.

The energy standard is tied to financing. 15 AAC 155.010 adopts the 2018 IECC with Alaska-specific amendments dated November 28, 2018 as the Building Energy Efficiency Standard (BEES) for buildings whose construction began on or after January 1, 2019, and 15 AAC 155.020 applies it to residential buildings and community-owned buildings built after December 31, 1991 with state financial assistance, as AS 46.11.040 requires, unless the corporation has exempted the community. 15 AAC 155.030 accepts an energy rating of four-star plus or higher for a building constructed after December 31, 1994, an authorized inspector’s certification, a qualified builder’s self-certification, or a certificate of occupancy from a municipality whose code the corporation found meets the standard. The AHFC BEES page describes BEES as the 2018 IECC and ASHRAE 62.2-2016 with Alaska amendments and says a minimum 5 Star rating is required, so check which rating the loan requires. AHFC’s approved municipalities are Anchorage within its service area, Fairbanks within city limits, and Juneau. The State Fire Marshal’s review does not check energy, since 13 AAC 50 does not adopt IBC Chapter 13. AS 18.56.300, which sets construction standards for housing loans the corporation buys, still defines the state building code as the versions of the Uniform Building Code and Uniform Mechanical Code the Department of Public Safety adopts, though 13 AAC 50 now adopts the 2021 IBC and IMC. Permit routing is on the Alaska page, and the model codes have their own guides: IBC, IFC, IEBC, IMC, UPC, NFPA 70, and IECC.

Gather the code analysis, the reviewing office, and the Alaska rules

Collect the cover sheet and code analysis with the occupancy classification, construction type, area, height, stories, and every code and edition cited; the dimensioned site plan with property lines, the public way or yard, fire apparatus access, hydrants, and fuel tanks; the life safety plan with exits, occupant loads, travel distances, rated separations and corridors, and sprinkler and alarm coverage; floor plans, elevations, sections, and wall types with fire ratings and interior finishes; stair, guard, and handrail details; foundation, wall, roof, and floor construction details and the structural general notes; the heating, ventilation, and fuel-fired equipment schedules with their Btu ratings; the plumbing, electrical, fire alarm, sprinkler, and emergency lighting drawings; the energy documents; and the specifications.

Add the site address and whether it lies in a deferred jurisdiction or, in Anchorage, the Building Safety Service Area; the number of dwelling units and sleeping rooms; the community’s population for plumbing inspection; whether AHFC or other state financing is involved; whether the building is built off site or out of state; the correspondence with the registered fire department on access and water supply; and the fire systems permit holder or engineer who will prepare the shop drawings. Download 13 AAC 50 to 13 AAC 55 from the Division of Fire and Life Safety, the plumbing and electrical rules from Mechanical Inspection, the BEES amendments from AHFC, and the local code from the deferred jurisdiction.

Trace the Alaska codes through the set

Fire and life safety sheets continue in the means of egress guide, the IBC Chapter 9 guide, and the IBC Chapter 7 guide, sprinkler and alarm documents in the NFPA 13, NFPA 13R, and NFPA 72 guides and the fire sprinkler checklist, fuel tanks and oil-fired equipment in the NFPA 30 and NFPA 31 guides, fuel gas in the IFGC guide, elevators in the ASME A17.1 guide, structural loads in the ASCE 7 guide, and accessible details in the 2010 ADA Standards guide. Other western state codes are in the Washington guide, the Oregon Structural Specialty Code guide, the Idaho guide, and the Montana guide.

Example: a 12-unit apartment building outside the deferred jurisdictions

Hypothetical example. A developer plans a new two-story apartment building with 12 dwelling units on a road-system site outside every deferred jurisdiction, financed in part through AHFC, using drawings adapted from an Anchorage project. The code analysis cites the 2024 IBC and IFC, the sprinkler notes say no system is required because the building is two stories, the electrical notes cite the 2023 NEC, the energy notes cite the 2024 IECC, and the submittal has no correspondence with the local registered fire department about access or hydrants.

The site is outside the deferred jurisdictions, so the State Fire Marshal’s Plan Review Bureau reviews the plans under 13 AAC 50, which adopts the 2021 IBC and IFC with Alaska amendments, not the 2024 editions Anchorage adopted. As amended, Section 903.2.8.2 exempts a Group R-2 building of no more than two stories from sprinklers only if it has four or fewer dwelling units or 16 or fewer sleeping rooms, so a 12-unit building needs a sprinkler system unless it has 16 or fewer sleeping rooms. The amended IFC Section 501.3 requires documentation that the fire chief of the registered fire department took part in decisions on access roads, water supplies, and key boxes. Electrical work follows the 2020 NEC adopted in 8 AAC 70.025, and AHFC financing requires the Building Energy Efficiency Standard, the 2018 IECC with Alaska amendments. Confirm the code basis, the sprinkler requirement, the fire department documentation, the electrical edition, and the energy standard.

The architect rewrites the code analysis on the 2021 IBC and IFC with the Alaska amendments, the fire protection engineer designs the sprinkler system and a fire systems permit holder or engineer prepares the shop drawings, the team obtains the fire department access letter, the electrical engineer moves the notes to the 2020 NEC, and the energy consultant documents BEES compliance for the lender before the plans go to the Community Portal. The finding is a citation and scope conflict; the Plan Review Bureau and AHFC decide compliance.

Review an Alaska set with Groundbook

Upload the current drawings and specifications to Groundbook, and state the edition, amendments, and review scope in your instructions. The Division of Fire and Life Safety posts 13 AAC 50 to 13 AAC 55 as a free PDF, the statutes and regulations are on the Legislature’s site, the Department of Labor posts its plumbing and electrical rules, and AHFC posts the BEES amendments. Upload those and any local ordinance as code files, with the 2021 IBC, IFC, IMC, and IEBC, the 2018 Uniform Plumbing Code, the 2020 NEC, the 2018 IECC, and the NFPA standards the codes reference from copies you are licensed to use where the license permits uploading them. See how Groundbook works with local and licensed codes.

Compare the cover sheet, code analysis, life safety plan, and every discipline’s general notes with the architectural, structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, fire protection, and energy documents. Flag IBC, IFC, IMC, or IEBC editions other than 2021 unless the local ordinance in my instructions adopts another, references to the IRC, IECC, or International Plumbing Code that the supplied Alaska rules replace, Group E or R buildings without the sprinkler coverage the supplied amendments require, missing fire department access documentation, fire system shop drawings without a seal or permit holder signature, electrical notes not on the 2020 NEC, and energy documents that do not follow the BEES when state financing applies. Use the supplied Alaska rules and model codes and cite both sources.

Groundbook compares the set with reference documents you upload, including licensed codes and standards you hold, and links each potential finding to the note or sheet and to the Alaska regulation, statute, ordinance, or model code. It has no built-in library of licensed codes, runs no calculations, and does not design anything. It does not decide whether a site is in a deferred jurisdiction, whether a building is exempt from state plan review, or whether BEES applies to a loan; each finding is a question for the responsible design professional.

Document review does not certify compliance, issue a plan review approval or permit, or replace the design professional, the State Fire Marshal’s Plan Review Bureau, a deferred jurisdiction’s plans examiners, the registered fire department, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s inspectors, or AHFC.