Florida fire drill log

Twelve fire drills a year in facilities without sprinklers; six a year where the building is sprinklered.

The building

Florida requirements loaded — the rules below are Florida’s own.

Florida — Assisted Living Facility: Twelve fire drills a year in facilities without sprinklers; six a year where the building is sprinklered.Fla. Admin. Code 59A-36.019 (Emergency Management) and 59A-36.025 (Emergency Environmental Control), formerly 58A-5.026 and 58A-5.036; §429.41 Fla. Stat. · Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) / Dept. of Elder Affairs · checked Jul 2026Who to notify: Florida requires the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan to be submitted to the county Office of Emergency Management for review and approval under Chapter 252, Florida Statutes — and an APPROVED CEMP is a condition of annual license renewal. A newly licensed facility, or one with significant changes, must submit within 30 business days under Fla. Admin. Code 59A-36.019 (formerly 58A-5.026(2)(b)). The county then has up to 60 business days to review and approve, so a plan filed late cannot be approved in time for renewal. (County Office of Emergency Management)
Your target for the year

12 drills this year. 12 a year, the figure for an unsprinklered building.

We assumed the building is not sprinklered. Change it below if that is wrong.

Worked out from Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) / Dept. of Elder Affairs's rule as we have it recorded. Confirm it against your licence before you rely on it — then leave the box below empty and we will keep using this number.

0 of 12 logged, 12 to go.
The drills

One row per drill. Vary the time of day and the scenario — most states require it explicitly, and a log showing four drills all at 10am on a Tuesday is the first thing a surveyor notices.

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What Florida requires

Assisted Living Facility — Assisted living / residential care

Twelve fire drills a year in facilities without sprinklers; six a year where the building is sprinklered.

Fla. Admin. Code 59A-36.019 (Emergency Management) and 59A-36.025 (Emergency Environmental Control), formerly 58A-5.026 and 58A-5.036; §429.41 Fla. Stat. · Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) / Dept. of Elder Affairs · AHCA fire drill guidance for assisted living · checked July 2026Who to notify: Florida requires the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan to be submitted to the county Office of Emergency Management for review and approval under Chapter 252, Florida Statutes — and an APPROVED CEMP is a condition of annual license renewal. A newly licensed facility, or one with significant changes, must submit within 30 business days under Fla. Admin. Code 59A-36.019 (formerly 58A-5.026(2)(b)). The county then has up to 60 business days to review and approve, so a plan filed late cannot be approved in time for renewal. (County Office of Emergency Management)

Filling it in so it survives a survey

Vary the time and the scenario between drills — most states require it in terms, and a log showing every drill at 10am on a Tuesday is the first thing an experienced surveyor picks out. Record what went wrong and the date it was fixed: a run of flawless drills reads as a log nobody actually ran, and the corrective action is the part that shows the drill was worth holding.

The plan behind the drills

A drill tests a plan. Everything Florida requires of that plan — filing, prescribed forms, retention — sits alongside this, and the emergency plan builder writes it from the same research, so the two cannot disagree.

Everything else we’ve researched about Florida

Same state, the problems either side of this one. Each carries its own statute and the date we last checked it.

General information, not legal advice, and not a compliance determination. CompliMaint issues nothing — Florida’s licensing agency and your authority having jurisdiction do. The rule above is cited and dated to when we last checked it; verify it before you rely on it.