Michigan Compiled Laws

Mich. Comp. Laws § 29.1 (2026)

Definitions.

✓ current as of July 2026

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FIRE PREVENTION CODE

Act 207 of 1941

29.1 Definitions.

Sec. 1.

As used in this act:

(a) "Bureau" means the bureau of fire services created in section 1b.

(b) "Director" means the director of the department of labor and economic growth.

(d) "Building" means a structure, framework, or place for housing 1 or more persons or a tank, receptacle, or container for the storage of commodities or other materials.

(e) "Premises" means a lot or parcel of land, exclusive of buildings, and includes a parking lot, tourist camp, trailer camp, airport, stockyard, junkyard, wharf, pier, and any other place or enclosure.

(f) "Fire hazard" means a building, premises, place, or thing that, because of its nature, location, occupancy, condition, or use, may cause loss, damage, or injury to persons or property by fire, explosion, or action of the elements.

(g) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, or voluntary association.

(h) "Owner" means a person with an ownership interest in property, and includes a trustee, a board of trustees of property, and a person with a freehold interest in property. Owner does not include a lessee or mortgagee of property.

(i) "Organized fire department" means a department, authority, or other governmental entity that safeguards life and property from damage from explosion, fire, or disaster and that provides fire suppression and other related services in this state. Organized fire department includes any lawfully organized firefighting force in this state.

(j) "State fire marshal" means the individual appointed by the director under section 1b.

(k) "Firm" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, association, or corporation.

(l) "Vehicle" means a tank vehicle or bulk transportation vehicle, excluding the tractor of a tank vehicle or bulk transportation vehicle.

(m) "Hazardous material" means explosives, pyrotechnics, flammable gas, flammable compressed gas, nonflammable compressed gas, flammable liquid, combustible liquid, oxidizing material, poisonous gas, poisonous liquid, irritating material, etiologic material, radioactive material, corrosive material, or liquefied petroleum gas.

(n) "Firefighter" means a member of an organized fire department, including a volunteer member or a member paid on call, who is responsible for, or is in a capacity that includes responsibility for, the extinguishment of fires, the directing of the extinguishment of fires, the prevention and detection of fires, and the enforcement of the general fire laws of this state. Firefighter does not include a person whose job description, duties, or responsibilities do not include direct involvement in fire suppression.

(o) "Place of public assemblage" means a room or other space in a building if the room or other space can accommodate 50 or more individuals, including connected rooms and spaces that share a common means of entrance and egress. Place of public assemblage does not include a private 1- or 2-family dwelling.

(p) "Fire chief" or "chief of an organized fire department" means the chief operating officer of an organized fire department.

(q) "Board" means the state fire safety board created in section 3b.

(r) "Terminal" means a location where an aboveground liquid storage tank containing a flammable liquid is located.

(s) "Attended terminal" means a terminal, other than a remote control terminal, where an individual knowledgeable in the aboveground liquid storage tank filling operation is physically in attendance and control during the entire delivery of a flammable liquid and has as his or her primary responsibility supervising the storage tank filling operation.

(t) "Unattended terminal" means a terminal, other than a remote control terminal or an attended terminal, where an individual knowledgeable in the aboveground liquid storage tank filling operation is only in attendance during a portion of the time when a flammable liquid is being delivered or the individual's primary responsibility is a function other than supervising the storage tank filling operation.

(u) "Remote control terminal" means a terminal where filling an aboveground liquid storage tank with a flammable liquid is controlled at a remote location by the individual who conveyed the flammable liquid to the terminal.

(v) "Pipeline" means a pipeline that conveys a flammable liquid from a crude petroleum wellhead collection site to a refinery or terminal or from a refinery to a terminal. Pipeline does not mean gathering lines that convey a flammable liquid from the wellhead to a crude petroleum collection tank or piping used in a plant operation.

(w) "Fire alarm system" means an assemblage of components that indicates or provides a warning of a fire emergency, installation of which is required by the bureau under rules promulgated under section 3c.

(x) "Fire suppression system" means an integrated combination of a fire alarm system and fire suppression equipment that, as a result of predetermined temperature, rate of temperature rise, products of combustion, flame, or human intervention, will discharge a fire extinguishing substance over a fire area, installation of which is required by the bureau under rules promulgated under section 3c.

(y) "Flammable liquid" means a liquid with a flash point below 100 degrees Fahrenheit and a vapor pressure that does not exceed 40 pounds per square inch absolute at 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

(z) "Combustible liquid" means a liquid with a flash point at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and below 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

(aa) "Owner of a vehicle" means 1 or more of the following:

(i) A person who rents or leases the vehicle or has the exclusive use of the vehicle for a period greater than 30 days.

(ii) Subject to subparagraph (iii), a person who holds legal title to the vehicle.

(iii) If the vehicle is the subject of a conditional sale or lease agreement with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions in the agreement, and if the conditional vendee or lessee has the immediate right of possession, or if a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor.

(bb) "Noncommercial transportation" means the occasional transportation of personal property by an individual not for compensation or in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise, and transportation not regulated under the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.25.

History: 1941, Act 207, Imd. Eff. June 16, 1941 ;-- CL 1948, 29.1 ;-- Am. 1973, Act 199, Imd. Eff. Jan. 11, 1974 ;-- Am. 1978, Act 3, Imd. Eff. Feb. 7, 1978 ;-- Am. 1980, Act 247, Eff. Oct. 1, 1980 ;-- Am. 1981, Act 186, Imd. Eff. Dec. 23, 1981 ;-- Am. 1982, Act 144, Eff. Oct. 28, 1982 ;-- Am. 1987, Act 70, Imd. Eff. June 29, 1987 ;-- Am. 1996, Act 152, Imd. Eff. Mar. 25, 1996 ;-- Am. 2006, Act 189, Imd. Eff. June 19, 2006

Compiler's Notes:

For transfer of powers and duties of the state fire safety board from the department of state police to the department of consumer and industry services, see E.R.O. No. 1997-2, compiled at MCL 29.451 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

For transfer of certain authority, powers, functions, and responsibilities of the state fire marshal and the fire marshal division of the department of state police to the director of the department of labor and economic growth, bureau of construction codes and fire safety, by type II transfer, see E.R.O. No. 2003-1, compiled at MCL 445.2011.

FormerLaw Notes:

See Act 79 of 1911; Act 178 of 1915, being CL 1929, §§ 603 to 620.

AdminRule Notes:

R 29.2801 et seq. of the Michigan Administrative Code.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 11 cases, 1955–2018 · leading case: Ypsilanti Fire Marshal v. Kircher, 730 N.W.2d 481 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

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Ypsilanti Fire Marshal v. Kircher, 730 N.W.2d 481 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “02-000434-CH, alleging that the Thompson Building was in violation of the state Fire Prevention Code, MCL 29.1 et seq., and certain local building and fire codes.”

Attorney Gen. v. Ankersen, 385 N.W.2d 658 (Mich. Ct. App. 1986). · cites it 3× “Plaintiffs’ theories of liability were based on (1) sections 8 through 18 and section 23 of the Fire Prevention Code, MCL 29.1 et seq.; MSA 4.559(1) et seq.; (2) section 2 of the Environmental Protection Act of 1970 (MEPA), MCL 691.”

Ypsilanti Charter Twp. v. Kircher, 761 N.W.2d 761 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008). “” Unlike the nuisance-abatement action in Ypsilanti Fire Marshal , the present action was not based on Michigan’s Fire Prevention Code, MCL 29.1 et seq. Instead, this action was based entirely on alleged violations of the local fire and property maintenance codes and was brought…”

City of Riverview v. Sibley Limestone, 716 N.W.2d 615 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006). “3 Also relevant are § 22-193(a), which provides for the payment of permit fees to plaintiffs general fund; § 22-173, which provides that failure to obtain a blasting permit results in a civil infraction; and *631 § 22-194, which provides, “If approved by the city council,…”

Kircher v. City of Ypsilanti, 458 F. Supp. 2d 439 (E.D. Mich. 2006). · cites it 2× “In particular, on May 15, 2001, Defendant Jon Ichesco, Ypsilanti’s fire marshal, brought suit in Washtenaw County Circuit Court under Michigan’s fire prevention code, Mich. Comp. Laws § 29.1 et seq., seeking to abate an alleged nuisance on Plaintiffs Cross Street property that…”

City of Ann Arbor v. Michigan, 347 N.W.2d 10 (Mich. Ct. App. 1984). · cites it 2× “Section 4(1) of the Fire Prevention Code, MCL 29.1 et seq.; MSA 4.559(1) et seq., for example, provides in part: "The chief of each organized fire department, or the clerk of each city, village, or township not having an organized fire department, immediately after the…”

Comm'r of State Police v. Anderson, 73 N.W.2d 280 (Mich. 1955). · cites it 2× “This case arose through enforcement of the provisions of PA 1941, No 207, as amended (OL 1948 and OLS 1954, §29.1 et seq. [Stat Ann 1952 Rev § 4.559(1) et seq.”

Ross v. Consumers Power Co., 363 N.W.2d 641 (Mich. 1985). · cites it 2× “See also 2 Harper & James, Torts, § 29.1; Littlejohn & DeMars, Governmental Immunity After Parker and Perry: The King Can Do Some Wrong, 1982 Det C L Rev 1, 3.”

Hough v. North Star Baptist Church, 312 N.W.2d 158 (Mich. Ct. App. 1981). “, MCL 29.1 et seq.; MSA 4.559(1) et seq. A hearing was held, and the trial court, after filing findings of fact and conclusions of law, enjoined respondents from using the North Star Baptist Church building as a school until written approval for school building usage was…”

Michigan Petroleum Ass'n v. State Fire Saf. Bd., 333 N.W.2d 506 (Mich. Ct. App. 1983). “10 MCL 29.1 et seq.; MSA 4.559(1) et seq. 11 A discussion of the issue of retroactivity of administrative rules and regulations may be found in Davis, Administrative Law Text (3d ed), § 5.”

Oscar Goodwin v. City of Detroit (Mich. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 2× “” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed). With that said, the Fire Prevention Code does define a “fire chief” as “the chief operating officer of an organized fire department,” MCL 29.”

— Mich. Comp. Laws § 29.1(p) — 1 case

Oscar Goodwin v. City of Detroit (Mich. Ct. App. 2018). “” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed). With that said, the Fire Prevention Code does define a “fire chief” as “the chief operating officer of an organized fire department,” MCL 29.”

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