Fire Sprinkler / Fire Alarm Permit (State-Administered) in Colstrip, Montana

Colstrip requires a fire sprinkler / fire alarm permit (state-administered) for: No dedicated online permit application, fee schedule, or numeric plan-review timeline for fire sprinkler/alarm systems is published by the City of Colstrip or by the Montana DOJ Fire Prevention and Investigation Section (both directly checked 2026-07-22); Per MCA 50-3-102(1)(b), the department (DOJ) inspects public, business, or industrial buildings and requires conformance to fire-safety rules -- this is the state authority that would govern a fire sprinkler/alarm system in a Colstrip public or commercial building, since neither the City nor the DLI Building Codes Bureau administers this trade; Applicants should contact the Area 9 Deputy State Fire Marshal (covering Rosebud County) directly to determine the current plan-review/permit process before starting fire sprinkler or fire alarm work; Because Colstrip holds no DLI Electrical certification, the electrical/wiring portion of an alarm system installation would separately require a state Electrical Permit from the DLI Building Codes Bureau -- see the electrical-permit-state entry in this file. If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. at (406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303 before starting work.

Colstrip does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. at (406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303 for current turnaround.

You'll need: Direct inquiry to Area 9 Deputy State Fire Marshal. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

Colstrip requires 1 inspection(s) for a fire sprinkler / fire alarm permit (state-administered), in order: State Fire Prevention Inspection. Schedule each through City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. ((406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303).

Apply through City of Colstrip Code Enforcement Office / Building and Zoning Department (a division of the Colstrip Police Department) — city-certified with the Montana DLI for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, per the certified official on file, Russell Murphy. Commercial building permits, and Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical/HVAC permits of ANY project type, within Colstrip city limits are issued directly by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Bureau, not the City. at 12 Cherry St., Colstrip, MT 59323. Phone: (406) 748-2300, ext. 2305 (Code Enforcement / Building and Zoning); general City Hall line (406) 748-2300; fax (406) 748-2303, email: Not published on the City of Colstrip website; use the general Contact page web form (cityofcolstrip.com/contact). Office hours: City Hall, 12 Cherry St., Colstrip, MT 59323. Code Enforcement Office handles Building and Zoning permitting; per the City's own Building and Zoning page, allow 2-3 days' advance notice when calling the Code Enforcement Office to schedule a building inspector site visit. No individual staff name/email for the current code enforcement/building inspector position is published on the City's site as of this review (the Montana DLI certified-jurisdiction roster lists Russell Murphy as the certified official on file, phone 853-5084).. Official information: https://www.cityofcolstrip.com/building-zoning.

Colstrip, Montana has adopted: Montana has a mandatory statewide building code administered by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) Building Codes Bureau, amended by the Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) Title 24, Chapter 301. Cities, counties, and towns may become 'certified' to locally administer permitting and inspection for all or part of the code; non-certified trades — and, where a city's Building certification is itself partial (e.g. residential-only), non-certified project types — fall under direct state administration by the DLI Building Codes Bureau. Source: Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau, Certified City, County and Town Programs (bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits).; Colstrip is a Montana DLI-certified jurisdiction for Building (B), RESIDENTIAL ONLY, within city limits; certified official on file with DLI: Russell Murphy, (406) 853-5084. Verified directly against the DLI Building Codes Bureau's 'Montana Certified Local Government Program' roster PDF (fetched and text-extracted directly from the source PDF): 'Colstrip | B (residential only) | Russell Murphy | 853-5084 | City Limits'. As with Hardin and Anaconda-Deer Lodge, this residential-only certification does NOT cover commercial building work, meaning commercial building permits in Colstrip route to the state DLI Building Codes Bureau exactly as they would in a non-certified jurisdiction, in addition to Electrical/Plumbing/Mechanical for all project types. Source: https://bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/building-codes-permits/certified-city.pdf; Colstrip, MT Code of Ordinances, Title 7 Building Regulations, Chapter 1 Building Codes contains seven sections: 7-1-1 Adoption; 7-1-2 Type Of Structures Governed By Colstrip Building Codes, Type Of Structures Exempted; 7-1-3 Code Enforcement Officer; 7-1-4 Procedures For Administration And Enforcement; 7-1-5 Schedule Of Construction And Inspection Fees; 7-1-6 Appeal Procedure; 7-1-7 Employees Inspecting, Reviewing Plans, Approving Structures And Installation. Directly fetched and text-extracted via browser-header curl (codelibrary.amlegal.com blocks default fetch tools with a 403). Source: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/colstripmt/latest/colstrip_mt/0-0-0-1489; Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4.C.1 (Ord. 02-02, 6-25-2002, eff. 7-25-2002), directly fetched and text-extracted: 'the code enforcement officer shall review the application and plans to determine whether the proposed activity complies with the uniform building code, uniform mechanical code, and other applicable codes and regulations... The code enforcement officer shall complete the review and act to issue or deny the building permit within thirty (30) days of submittal of a complete application.' Section 7-1-4.C.2 adds: 'The code enforcement officer may, in certain cases, request the assistance of the Montana building code bureau, or other state agency or professional consultant in reviewing a building permit application. In such a case, the code enforcement officer must act on issuing or denying a building permit within forty (40) days of submittal of a complete application.' This is a genuine, codified LOCAL review-timeline figure for Colstrip's own residential building permit — 30 days standard, 40 days if state/professional-consultant assistance is requested. Source: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/colstripmt/latest/colstrip_mt/0-0-0-1532; Per the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's Current Codes page (statewide effective date June 11, 2022, applicable uniformly to all certified and state-enforced jurisdictions): 2021 IBC, 2021 IRC, 2021 IEBC, 2021 IMC, 2021 IFGC, 2021 IECC, 2021 ISPSC, 2021 UPC, 2020 NEC, 2017 ICC A117.1 Accessibility. Colstrip's own Residential Building Permit Application (a locally-authored one-page form, not a reformatted state BCP-1) does not itself cite specific code-edition years, but Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4.C.1 explicitly directs review against 'the uniform building code, uniform mechanical code, and other applicable codes and regulations' — i.e., the state-adopted editions administered under ARM Title 24, Chapter 301. Source: bsd.dli.mt.gov/building-codes-permits/current-codes; Colstrip Municipal Code 7-1-4. Local amendments apply — see the Colstrip overview page for the full list.

Neither the City of Colstrip nor the Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau administers fire sprinkler/alarm permitting -- the DLI's certification scheme has no fire category at all. Fire-safety rulemaking and inspection authority sits with the Montana Department of Justice's Fire Prevention and Investigation Section under MCA 50-3-102, which covers Rosebud County as part of its 'Area 9' territory. No online permit application, fee schedule, or timeline is published by either the City or that state office as of this review.

No -- and this isn't unique to Colstrip. The Montana DLI Building Codes Bureau's certified-jurisdiction program (the same program under which Colstrip holds a residential-only Building certification) does not include a fire-protection category for any Montana jurisdiction; its only non-Building/Plumbing/Electrical/Mechanical codes are for swimming pools (SP) and wildland-urban interface (W). Fire code authority is a separate state track run by the Department of Justice.