Last updated: January 31st, 2020 12:58 PM

Fire License in Tamilnadu

The issue and renewal of fire license across India are governed and regulated by the State Governments. Hence, the process and procedure for obtaining fire license vary from state to state. In Tamilnadu, a fire license is mandatorily required for various types of businesses mentioned in the Tamilnadu Fire Service Rules. In addition to the mandatory requirement, a fire license would also be required while obtaining Building Plan Approval from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for multistoried buildings. In this article, we look at the procedure for obtaining a fire license in Tamilnadu.

Applying for Fire License

The authority to whom fire license application must be submitted would depend on the type of building. To obtain a fire license for building with a height of up to 17.25 meters (Non-MSB), the District Officer, Fire and Rescue Services Department is the concerned authority. To obtain a fire license for building with height above 17.25 meters (MSB) or building with more than a single basement and height of fewer than 17.25 meters, The Director, Fire and Rescue Services Department is the concerned authority.

Application for Fire License

The application for fire license must be signed by the building owner along with the following information or documents:

• Requisition Letter addressed to Approving Authority (District Officer or Director, as applicable) with the signature of the authorized signatory.
• Land ownership document copy (Rental Agreement or Sale Deed, including Patta, Chitta copy, or Lease Deed).
• Copy of Compliance Certification issued by the Fire and Rescue Services Department (For MSB only).
• Details of Fire Safety measures undertaken in the building.
• Fire Safety Plan of the building, including Fire Alarm Plan and Hydrant Layout, etc.
• 4 copies of the approved building plan from the Competent Authority (Local Body, DTCP or CMDA).

In addition to the above, the applicant must submit the following information in the format provided below during site verification:

Processing Time for Fire License

The government processing time for issuance of a fire license in Tamilnadu is between 15 to 30 days. The applicant would have to visit an e-Sevai Centre to begin the application process. The authority at the e-Sevai Centre would upload the application on behalf of the applicant on the system along with the required documents. Once documents are uploaded, an application number will be generated, and the applicant will receive a confirmation of the same via SMS. There is no fee to be paid to the Fire & Rescue Services department for this application. On completion of the application upload, the applicant should send by speed post all of the documents uploaded to the concerned Approving Authority (District Officer/ Director, as applicable). The Approving Authority would acknowledge the receipt of the application and documents to the applicant via SMS. The approving authority can ask for additional information from the applicant, only pertaining to the application form and supporting documents specified within 7 working days of application receipt (including supporting documents). The applicant can respond to the queries received through the online portal. Based on the submission, the approving Authority would schedule an inspection of the site after providing prior notice. Post-inspection, the concerned officer will prepare and submit the inspection report on the online portal and forward it to the concerned authority. If found fit, the fire license would then be issued by the Authorities to the applicant.

For assistance obtaining a fire license in Tamilnadu, get in touch with an IndiaFilings Advisor at sales@indiafilings.com.

Businesses & Activities Requiring Fire License in Tamilnadu

The following businesses or entities involved in manufacturing or storing any of the following are mandatorily required to obtain fire license:

1. Hotels, restaurants, bakeries, and eating houses.
2. Fish oil-machine power.
3. Other oil-machine power.
4. Boiling-camphor or oil by machine power.
5. Manufacture of ice.
6. Storing, packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing, or manufacturing by any process whatever.
7. Ammunition
8. Chlorate mixture.
9. Explosive (storing)
10. Fulminate of mercury
11. Guncotton
12. Gunpowder
13. Nitro-compound
14. Nitro-glycerin
15. Nitro-mixture
16. Fireworks, preparing or manufacturing or storing.
17. Manufacturing of crackers.
18. Camphor
19. Saltpeter.
20. Sulfur (including melting)
21. Matches
22. Flax
23. Hemp
24. Jute
25. Gas
26. Skins
27. Chemical preparations, carbolic acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, pyritic acid, sulphuric acid, caustic potash, caustic soda, chemical fertilizers, benzol, bromoform, chloroform, iodoform, glycerine, acetone, nitro, nitrol, perchloride of mercury, chloride of potash, etc.
28. Cigars and cigarettes.
29. Beedies.
30. Manufacturing articles from which offensive or unwholesome smells, fumes, dust, or noise arise (kumkums).
31. Carpentry and cabinet making.
32. Printing, composing, binding, etc.
33. Storing, dumping, curing, cleaning, etc.
34. Steam engines and boilers to construct or establish any factory workshop or workplace in which it is proposed to employ steam power, water power, or other mechanical power, or electric power.
35. Using for any industrial purpose fuel or machine power.
36. Baling presses
37. Cinema studio
38. Combustible materials storages.
39. Cinematographic films-storing, transporting, handling, examining, repairing, and exhibiting.
40. Storing ordinary camera Roll Films and X-ray films.
41. Petroleum products - storing, packing, cleansing, preparing or manufacturing by any process whatever Non-Dangerous Petroleum between 75o F and 1500 F
42. Non-Dangerous Petroleum
43. Kerosene oil
44. Mineral turpentine
45. Furnace oil
46. Vapourising oil
47. Aviation turbine fuel 650
48. Mobile power oil, etc
49. Heavy Petroleum
50. High-speed diesel oil
51. Light diesel oil
52. Furnace oil
53. Ten drier oil
54. Mobile diesel and, etc.
55. Heavy oils
56. Lubricating oils
57. Vaseline
58. Petroleum Jellies
59. White oils
60. Grease, etc.
61. Dyes (Vegetable or chemical) - Storing, selling, keeping, etc.
62. Paper (Printing, writing, including newsprint paper, cardboards, etc0 - storing, selling in retail or wholesales.
63. Silk (Rayon, Nylon, etc.) - Manufacturing by any process whatever.
64. Silk (Rayon, Nylon, etc. Waste or soiled) - Storing or selling in retail or wholesale.
65. Cloth (textiles, cotton, garments, dress, apparels, etc.) - By power looms, storing or selling in retail or wholesale, manufacturing by any process whatsoever.
66. Rubber (goods such as sheet, cloth, toys, shoe, etc.) By machine power, manufacturing by any process whatever.
67. Studios - Cinemas, etc. - Cinema Houses, equipped with reproducing of sound with amplifiers, by projectors where the public are admitted for amusement, entertainment, etc.
68. Fertilizers (chemical preparation of any kind) - manufacturing, packing, mixing, pressing, selling or storing, in retail or wholesale.
69. Paints (including distemper, varnish, spirits, linseed oil, polishes, etc.) - Manufacturing, mixing, packing, pressing, cleansing by any process whatever.
70. Paints (including distemper, varnish, spirits, linseed oil, polishes, etc.) storing, selling retail, or wholesale.
71. Metals - Melting lead, beating, breaking, hammering, casting, etc., metals.
72. Automobiles shops - repairing, building, assembling - By power, cleansing, etc., automobiles.
73. Tea stand, tea stall, and tea shop, which can be a source of Fire accident.
74. Coffee shops (café, restaurant, clubs) boarding houses eating house, military hotels, tea clubs, drinking houses, ice cream parlors.
75. Meals, hotels, or eating houses.
76. Biscuit, bread and confectioneries, tea shops, etc., where the public are admitted for the consumption of food or drink.
77. tyresPlaces where preparation of edibles is made and stored, but the public is not admitted for the consumption of food or drink.
78. Preparing Murukku, Masalavadai
79. Keeping pigs.
80. Cattle yards and stables, using or allowing a place to be used as a stable, veterinary infirmary, stand, shed or yard for keeping or taking quadrupeds for purposes of profit.
81. Keeping together twenty or more sheep or goats or ten or more head of cattle.
82. To open a new private cart stand.
83. To keep a cycle stand where fees are charged.
84. Manufacturing, preparing by any process whatsoever aerated waters.
85. Bricks, tiles (Brick-kilns)
86. Carpets.
87. Condiments by machinery, grinding chilies by machinery, powdering see kai by machinery.
88. Coffee roasting.
89. Coffee roasting and grinding ( by hand power)
90. Fish oil by hand power
91. Other oil by hand power, preparing or manufacturing of any process whatsoever.
92. Boiling, camphor, or oil by hand power.
93. Manufacturing or distilling - Sage
94. Storing, packing, dressing, cleansing, preparing, or manufacturing by any process, whatever, dumping or selling, ashes or cinders.
95. Packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing, or manufacturing any process whatever, candles.
96. Dyes (other than chemicals)
97. Catgut, fat tallow (including melting)
98. Dying, clothing, yarn silk
99. Refining gold
100. Gilding and electroplating by hand and machine power.
101. Selling wholesale or retail or storing for wholesale or retail trade, packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing or manufacturing by any process whatever, cow dung cakes.
102. Fins
103. Flax hemp
104. Offal
105. Jute
106. Leather
107. Skins (above 50 cwts)
108. Horns
109. Hair (dying or drying also)
110. Wool
111. Packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing or manufacturing by any processing whatsoever soap snuff.
112. Tailoring (dressmakers) using 70 or more sewing machines.
113. Battery charging and repairing, vulcanizing, retreading tires, radio, and electrical repairs and lumber materials, welding, etc.
114. Automobile shops - Repairing, building, assembling, cleanings, etc. Automobiles (by hand power)
115. Printing presses - Printing, composing, binding, etc. ( by hand power employing 5 persons or less)
116. Rubber tires and tubes - storing, dumping, curning, cleansing, etc.
117. Washing soiled clothes or keeping soiled clothes for the purposes of washing them or keeping washed clothes ( by machine power).
118. Dumping, shifting, selling or storing (charcoal, coal, storing combustible materials)
119. Selling or storing - firewood.
120. Grass, hay, dry leaves (combustible materials), straw, thatching materials.
121. Timber, storage, processing.
122. Storing - line
123. Rags resin (including resin) spirits and turpentine.
124. Tobacco (above 50 maunds)
125. Cold storage of fish, etc.
126. Poultry - To carry on the trade of poulterer. Poultry to use a place for the sale of poultry.
127. Selling wholesale or retail, storing, for wholesale or retail trade, packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing or manufacturing, by any process whatever - jaggery.
128. Selling wholesale or retail, or storing for wholesale or retail trade, onion, garlic, chilies (dried), selling wholesale or retail or storing or wholesale or retail trade, pressing, cleaning, preparing, or manufacturing by any process whatever.
129. Oil cakes.
130. Coconut fiber, selling for storing, fibers, and articles made of coconut fibers.
131. Storing, packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing, or manufacturing by any process whatever oil-gingelly, groundnut, coconut, castor, vegetable oils, margo, etc.
132. Paper (waste paper) - storing or selling in retail or wholesale
133. Paper (printing, writing including newsprint paper, cardboards, etc.) storing and selling.
134. Sugar- packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing, or manufacturing by any process whatever sugar - storing or selling retail or wholesale.
135. Sugar candy packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing, or manufacturing by any process whatever.
136. Ink (writing ink, marking ink, etc.) manufacturing by any process whatever.
137. Ink (printing ink) manufacturing by any process whatever.
138. Crockery, enameling, etc. - Manufacturing by any process whatever.
139. Beedi leaves - Storing or selling in retail or wholesale.
140. Thatching materials such as coconut leaves, woven coil mats, ropes, etc., storing or selling in retail or wholesale.
141. Tea (dust, leaves, powder, etc.) bread storing or selling in retail or wholesale.
142. Articles made of flour (biscuits, bread, cakes Peppermint chocolates, etc.) - manufacturing by any process whatever.
143. Furniture (wood, metal, cane, bamboo, etc.) storing or selling in retail or wholesale
144. Cloth (cotton-textile) - Manufacturing by any process whatever (by machine power)
145. Automobile - Cleansing, servicing and bodybuilding, etc. - Manufacturing, assembling, repairing, stocking or selling in retail or wholesale, etc.
146. Cycle-manufacturing, assembling, storing or selling in retail or wholesales
147. Glass (including mirror, glassware, glass plates, etc.) - manufacturing by any process whatsoever.
148. Glass (including mirror, glassware, glass plates, etc.) storing or selling in retail or wholesale.
149. Rubber (goods such as sheet, cloth, toys, shoes, etc.) storing or selling in retail or wholesale.
150. Battery - storing, selling, manufacturing, assembling, servicing, etc.
151. Electrical instruments, apparatus, etc., storing selling, in wholesale or retail, manufacturing, assembling, servicing, etc.
152. Radio storing, selling, retail or wholesale, manufacturing, assembling, servicing, etc.
153. Paper-packing, pressing, cleansing, preparing, manufacturing by any process whatever, making cardboard boxes, envelopes, etc.
154. Fibers (materials made of jute, coir, or any other fiber) - storing or selling in retail or wholesale.

In addition to the above, any trade  or activity covered under the following Act and Rules would be required to mandatorily obtain fire license:

• Explosives Act
• Petroleum Act
• Carbide act
• Oil Fields Act
• The Arms Act
• Warehousing Corporation Act
• The Emergency Risk (Hoods) Insurance Act
• The Major Port Trust Act, 1983.
• The Coal Miners Compensations and Development Act, 1974.
• The Cinematograph Rules, 1948.
• Factories act, 1948.
• The District Municipalities Act.