AI review of fire protection drawings and sprinkler shop drawings

How do you review fire protection drawings?

Review fire protection drawings against the full coordinated set, not the FP sheets alone, in this order.

1. Collect the full set first. Architectural life safety plans, floor plans, and reflected ceiling plans, the sprinkler and fire alarm drawings, mechanical and electrical plans, the equipment data sheets, and the Division 21 and 28 specs. A fire protection review done on the FP sheets alone misses most coordination problems.
2. Confirm the basis of design. Occupancy, construction type, hazard classification, and the code editions the AHJ has adopted. Every later check depends on these being right and consistent across the set.
3. Check sprinkler coverage and obstructions. Compare head layout against the reflected ceiling plan and the ductwork, lights, beams, and soffits drawn in the same zone.
4. Check fire alarm device layout. Detector and notification appliance locations against the current room layout, ceiling heights, and air diffusers.
5. Trace rated assemblies across sheets. Follow each rated wall, floor, and shaft from the life safety plan to the plans, sections, and details, and confirm the door ratings and penetration details match.
6. Check submittals against the contract set. Sprinkler shop drawings, fire alarm submittals, and product data compared with the specs and the coordinated drawings.
7. Log every finding by sheet. Write each issue with the sheet, location, and code section, so the designer, contractor, or AHJ can confirm it quickly.

Helonic runs steps three through six on every sheet, so the engineer spends review time on judgment calls. The manual version of this process is written up in fire protection drawing review, and the drawing conventions are covered in how to read fire sprinkler drawings.

What does AI check on sprinkler shop drawings and fire alarm drawings?

Helonic checks whether the fire protection drawn on the shop drawings fits the building drawn on the architectural and MEP sheets. The table lists the checks and the code reference behind each one. Editions and local amendments follow what the project's AHJ has adopted.

Shop drawings and product data are compared with the specs through submittal review. The full fire and life safety rule set is on fire and life safety review, and the sprinkler rules themselves are summarized in NFPA sprinkler requirements. For what changed in the newest sprinkler standard, see NFPA 13 2025 edition changes.

Can passive fire protection be checked on the 2D set?

Yes. Rated assemblies, fire door ratings, and penetrations are all drawn on the 2D set, and Helonic checks that they agree with each other.

• Rated assembly continuity. Rated walls shown on the life safety plan that are missing from a floor plan, drawn with a different rating in the wall types, or stopped at the ceiling instead of the deck.
• Fire door ratings. Door schedule ratings compared with the rating of the wall each door sits in, plus labeled doors with hardware that does not fit a fire-rated opening.
• Penetrations and firestopping. Sprinkler mains, ducts, pipe, and conduit that cross a rated assembly with no firestop system, no fire damper, or a detail that does not match the assembly.
• Shaft enclosures. Shafts whose rating or enclosure is inconsistent between plans, sections, and the life safety plan.

The penetration checks are described in penetration analysis, and the broader rule list is on code compliance checking. For firestop systems and assembly ratings, see the firestopping guide and the fire rating guide.

Does Helonic validate fire door ratings and penetrations in BIM?

No. Helonic does not check BIM models; it checks the 2D PDF drawings that get issued and permitted. If your team validates fire door ratings or service penetrations inside a Revit model, that is a model-checking tool's job.

The 2D set is what the AHJ reviews and what the contract is built from, and many fire protection packages are never modeled at all. Running Helonic on the issued PDFs catches rating and penetration conflicts whether or not a model exists. The tradeoffs between the two approaches are laid out in 2D vs 3D clash detection.

What does Helonic not do for fire protection?

Helonic reviews fire protection drawings; it does not design, calculate, or price fire protection systems.

• No hydraulic calculations. It does not run or verify sprinkler hydraulic calcs. Use your hydraulic calculation software and the engineer of record for that.
• No sprinkler design or layout. It does not lay out heads, size pipe, or produce shop drawings. It reviews drawings your team or contractor already produced.
• No estimating. It does not do fire suppression takeoffs or bids.
• No stamp. The engineer of record and the AHJ still make every compliance decision.

What does a fire protection engineer get back?

Helonic returns a list of findings, and each one names:

• The sheet and the location on it.
• The systems or assemblies involved, such as a sprinkler main and a rated corridor wall.
• The code section, where the finding is a code issue.
• A severity, so the team starts with what fails inspection or costs the most to fix in the field.

Findings can go straight into Procore or Autodesk as RFIs or submittal comments.

Frequently Asked Questions