Wyoming building code plan review: the 2024 I-codes the fire council adopts, State Fire Marshal and local plan review, and the NEC

Which Wyoming codes apply to a set of drawings?

W.S. 35-9-106(a) has the Council on Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety in Buildings adopt minimum fire standards not exceeding the International Fire, Building, Mechanical, Existing Building, and Fuel Gas Codes for new construction and remodeling subject to plan review, for existing buildings, and for hazardous materials. Council Chapter 1, on the Secretary of State’s rules portal (reference 041.0002.1.06262024), incorporates by reference the 2024 IBC, the 2024 IEBC, the 2024 IFC with Appendices D, E, F, and G, the 2024 IMC, and the 2024 IFGC, plus provisions of the International Residential, Property Maintenance (the rule calls it the “Property Management” code), Plumbing, and Energy Conservation Codes only as chapters 1 to 10 of the IBC, IFC, IMC, and IFGC reference them, and it excludes later amendments and editions. The department’s Chapter 1 definitions tie the building, existing building, fire, and mechanical codes to the editions “currently adopted by the Council.” Two other standards are set by statute: W.S. 35-9-106(d) makes the current editions of NFPA 58 and NFPA 54 the standard for liquefied petroleum gas installations and lets them control where they conflict with the IFGC, and W.S. 35-9-120(a) subjects all electrical installations to the National Electrical Code and makes it control over the IFC, IBC, IMC, IEBC, and IFGC where they conflict. W.S. 35-9-163(a) bars any state or local official from interpreting or enforcing the adopted codes more stringently than they require, except in a county or municipality granted local enforcement authority, and 35-9-163(b) keeps short-term rental of detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhomes out of commercial regulation and out of the IBC. W.S. 35-33-101 bars any code from prohibiting a refrigerant designated acceptable under 42 U.S.C. 7671k when the equipment is installed under the applicable laws. There is no statewide residential code: a city, town, or county may adopt a version of the IRC, and W.S. 16-13-102 then sets its timeline for permits for dwellings of not more than three stories and 3,000 square feet of finished floor area per unit, with written notice of completeness within ten business days and a decision within 30 calendar days of a complete application. We found no statute or council rule adopting a statewide energy code; the IECC enters only where the incorporated chapters reference it.

The dates do not quite match. The rules portal shows Council Chapter 1 effective 06/26/2024, while the department’s Plan Review page and Rules and Statutes page say the state adopted the 2024 International Codes on June 28, 2024 and that all new plan review submissions from June 28, 2024 must comply with the 2024 IFC, IBC, IFGC, IMC, and IEBC and the 2026 NEC. The NEC edition is not fixed in a rule: Department Chapter 1 (041.0003.1.10052023) defines it as the current NFPA electrical code and lets enforcement be delayed until July of that year, and the Electrical Board rules the department posts use the same “current edition” approach, so confirm with the state electrical inspector which edition applies on the permit date. The department also posts older copies beside the portal: its Rules of the Department file is the 2012 version, built around paper submittals, while the portal’s current Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 7 took effect 10/05/2023 and require electronic submittal through the department’s e-portal; rely on the portal and the Legislature’s current compilation. All checked November 6, 2026.

Plan review depends on the project and the place. W.S. 35-9-108(a) requires the owner to submit plans to the state fire marshal before new construction, remodeling, or installing aboveground flammable or combustible fuel tanks for buildings owned or leased by the state or local governments, public buildings over 5,000 square feet of total floor area including the basement, multistory public buildings, child care centers housing more than ten children, public bars, lounges, restaurants, night clubs, lodge halls, theaters, churches, and public meeting places of any size, and aboveground fuel dispensing facilities. Plans are approved as submitted if no written violations are sent within 21 working days of receipt, corrected plans are reviewed only for the corrections within ten working days, and no work may begin until the plans are approved; after completion the office inspects and issues a certificate of occupancy for a new building or a letter of compliance for a remodel. Subsection (q) exempts remodeling that the International Code exempts from permits, requires review of remodeling under $40,000 that affects a built-in fire protection system and of remodeling of $40,000 or more, and sends no plans to the state where a local government holds sole plan review authority; (s) allows phased submittals, with fire alarm and sprinkler plans as later phases. W.S. 35-9-118 excludes farms and ranches of 40 acres or more on deeded land, hospitals and other health care facilities (handled under 35-9-121.1), mines, oil field operations, refineries, and LP-gas facilities, and most railway buildings. The department’s Plan Review page lists a broader set, including schools, multi-story buildings, change of occupancy, any new or altered fire alarm, sprinkler, or suppression system regardless of size, solar, wind, and generator installations, Type I kitchen hoods, spray finishing, and RV and mobile home park site plans, and says plans are accepted or rejected within five business days and reviewed within 21 business days of acceptance; Department Chapter 2 (041.0003.2.10052023) counts 21 working days from assignment to a plans examiner. Chapter 2 also requires plans by a design professional registered in Wyoming unless an exemption applies, fire protection and alarm plans by a NICET III or higher designer or a Wyoming engineer, separate applications for tanks, hoods, sprinklers, alarms, and other suppression systems, a site plan with fire access roads, floor plans, elevations, details, and complete mechanical plans, the codes and editions used shown on the design, electrical one-lines, panel schedules, hazardous area classification, emergency systems, and available short-circuit current, and Type I hoods, alarms, and sprinklers as deferred submittals after the initial approval; approved sets are stamped “APPROVED AS NOTED,” a Permit to Construct follows payment, and work must start within 180 days. The department’s building plan checklist adds the soils report, design loads including frost depth, snow, wind, and seismic data, special inspection provisions, and accessibility scoping. Electrical work that needs a utility connect or disconnect needs a state wiring permit (wiring permits page) outside jurisdictions with local electrical authority.

Local and other state reviewers take over in defined cases. Under W.S. 35-9-121, the state fire marshal delegates fire, building, existing building, or electrical enforcement to a city or county that adopts standards at least as stringent as the state’s and employs certified inspectors, and authority reverts if the local body has not adopted new standards within six months of a state adoption; a local government may also assume sole plan review authority, including for state-owned or leased buildings and schools, and more stringent local provisions then prevail. Where a city or county has taken only one or two of the fire, building, and electrical standards, it must send notice of the project plans to the department within ten days. The department’s Local and State Jurisdictions chart (updated 9/11/2026) shows building plan review done locally in, among others, Laramie, Gillette, Wright, and Campbell County, Rawlins, Douglas, Lander, Riverton, Cheyenne, Casper, Natrona County, Cody, Sheridan, Rock Springs, Green River, and Jackson and Teton County; the state handles everything in Big Horn, Crook, Goshen, Hot Springs, Johnson, Niobrara, Sublette, and Weston counties and in any municipality not listed; and fire and building review can split, as in Laramie, where the city reviews building plans and the state reviews fire plans, or Sheridan, where the state reviews life safety systems. Licensed health care facilities belong to the Department of Health under W.S. 35-9-121.1, except electrical work, with NFPA 101 or the federal certification code as the minimum and the federal code prevailing in a conflict; its construction rules (Chapter 3, effective 04/03/2008) still adopt NFPA 101-2006, NFPA 99-2005, the 2006 FGI Guidelines, and the 2006 IBC, IFGC, IMC, IPC, and IFC, require preliminary and final plan approval, and Chapter 20 lets the department delegate review to certified local staff, so confirm the editions with the Department of Health. For public buildings built by the state, a local government, a school district, or another public body, W.S. 16-6-501 and 16-6-502 require the accessibility provisions of the 2012 IBC and approval by the state fire marshal, while the council adopts the 2024 IBC; record which edition the accessible design meets. State capital projects funded with federal money also get a State Construction Department review for energy efficient practice under W.S. 9-2-3004. Permit routing is on the Wyoming page, and the model codes have their own guides: IBC, IEBC, IFC, IMC, and IFGC.

Gather the code analysis, the jurisdiction, and each discipline’s Wyoming references

Collect the cover sheet and code analysis with every code and edition cited, the occupancy and construction type, building area and height, occupant loads and exit arrangement, the life safety plan with rated assemblies and fire protection systems, the site plan with property lines, streets, fire access roads, and other structures, floor plans with every room identified, elevations, wall, floor, ceiling, and roof details, the structural drawings with the soils report, design loads, and special inspections, the mechanical drawings, the electrical one-lines, panel schedules, hazardous areas, emergency systems, and available fault current, any tank, dispenser, kitchen hood, sprinkler, alarm, or suppression drawings and their designers’ credentials, the accessibility plans and details, and the specifications.

Add the city, town, or county and its row on the jurisdictions chart, any local ordinance and the codes it adopts, whether the building is owned or leased by the state or a local government, a school, a public building over 5,000 square feet or multistory, a child care center and its child count, an assembly use, a fuel facility, or a licensed health care facility, the remodel valuation from the ICC Building Valuation Data table, the planned phases, and whether a utility connection triggers a wiring permit. Read the statutes on the Legislature’s site and the rules on the Secretary of State’s rules portal.

Trace the Wyoming codes and reviewers through the set

Fire code sheets continue in the IFC guide, existing buildings in the IEBC guide, sprinkler and alarm documents in the NFPA 13 and NFPA 72 guides, the fire sprinkler checklist, and the fire alarm drawing checklist, kitchen hoods in the NFPA 96 guide, fuel and LP-gas installations in the NFPA 30A, NFPA 58, and NFPA 54 guides, electrical notes in the NFPA 70 guide, health care in the NFPA 101, NFPA 99, and FGI guides, accessible details in the ADA Standards guide and the accessibility checklist, and the full set in the architectural drawing checklist. Neighboring state codes are in the Montana guide, the Idaho guide, the Utah guide, the South Dakota guide, and the Nebraska guide.

Example: a restaurant and retail building in a county the state covers

Hypothetical example. An owner plans a one-story building of about 7,000 square feet with a restaurant and two retail spaces in a town in Sublette County, where the jurisdictions chart shows the state enforcing fire, building, and electrical codes. The architect reused a code analysis that cites the 2021 IBC and IFC, the mechanical sheets show a Type I hood and the fire protection sheets show a sprinkler system in the main permit set, the sprinkler drawings carry only the installer’s name, the electrical notes cite the 2023 NEC, and the schedule starts foundations the week the plans are uploaded to the department’s portal.

The project is a public building over 5,000 square feet and a restaurant, both of which W.S. 35-9-108(a) sends to the State Fire Marshal’s office for plan review, and no work may begin until the plans are approved and the department issues a Permit to Construct under its Chapter 2 rules. Council Chapter 1 incorporates the 2024 IBC and IFC, while the code analysis cites 2021; the department lists the 2026 NEC, while the electrical notes cite 2023. Chapter 2 treats the Type I hood and the sprinkler system as deferred submittals with separate applications after the initial approval and requires sprinkler plans by a NICET III or higher designer or a Wyoming engineer. Confirm the code editions, the submittal sequence, the sprinkler designer, and the start date with the department.

The architect updates the code analysis to the 2024 codes, the electrical engineer confirms the NEC edition with the state electrical inspector, the hood and sprinkler drawings move to separate deferred applications prepared by a qualified designer, and the owner holds the foundation work until the Permit to Construct is issued. The finding is a citation and sequence conflict; the State Fire Marshal’s office decides compliance.

Review a Wyoming set with Groundbook

Upload the current drawings and specifications to Groundbook, and state the edition, amendments, and review scope in your instructions. Wyoming’s statutes are free on the Legislature’s site, its rules on the Secretary of State’s rules portal, and the department posts its checklists and jurisdictions chart. Upload W.S. Title 35, Chapter 9, the council and department rule chapters, the Department of Health construction rules where they apply, the city or county ordinance, and the department’s checklists as code files, with the 2024 IBC, IEBC, IFC, IMC, and IFGC, the NEC, and the NFPA standards the project relies on 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, fire protection, mechanical, electrical, and accessibility documents. Flag IBC, IFC, IMC, IFGC, or IEBC editions other than 2024, an NEC edition other than the one in my instructions, missing code and edition statements, sprinkler, alarm, hood, or tank work that is not shown as a separate or deferred submittal, fire protection drawings without a NICET III or Wyoming engineer credential, and a reviewing agency that does not fit the ownership, occupancy, floor area, and jurisdiction in my instructions. Use the supplied statutes, rules, checklists, 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 Wyoming statute, rule, checklist, 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 the state or a local government has jurisdiction, which edition governs where the council rules, the department’s pages, and older statutes differ, or whether a project needs state plan review; each finding is a question for the responsible design professional.

Document review does not certify compliance, issue a permit, plan approval, or certificate of occupancy, or replace the design professional, the local building official, the State Fire Marshal’s office, the state electrical inspector, or the Department of Health.