TL;DR
A fire watch is the continuous human patrol a fire code requires when a building's sprinkler or alarm system is impaired for more than a set period — typically 4 hours for sprinklers under IFC rules — or during hazardous hot work like welding near combustibles. Watch personnel must have no other duties, carry a means to call 911, patrol on a documented schedule, and keep a written log the fire marshal can demand.
What it means
A fire watch is the continuous human patrol a fire code requires when a building's sprinkler or alarm system is impaired for more than a set period — typically 4 hours for sprinklers under IFC rules — or during hazardous hot work like welding near combustibles. Watch personnel must have no other duties, carry a means to call 911, patrol on a documented schedule, and keep a written log the fire marshal can demand. Building owners encounter the cost when a system repair stretches overnight and staffing the watch becomes part of the contractor's quote.
Where it sits in the glossary
Fire watch is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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