The City of Long Beach planned to renovate an existing building in Long Beach, California for use as a year-round homeless shelter. The facility was previously used as a thrift store and included approximately 21,000 square feet of space requiring evaluation for residential shelter use. As part of the renovation, the project team needed to understand whether the existing fire protection and fire alarm systems could support the proposed occupancy and what upgrades would be required for code compliance.

Engineering Fire Protection, LLC provided fire protection consulting, system due diligence, building code consulting and design services to support the project from early evaluation through construction documentation. EFP conducted a field survey, reviewed the existing sprinkler and fire alarm system conditions, coordinated water supply information, performed hydraulic calculations, prepared existing system documentation, and developed bid-level fire sprinkler and fire alarm design documents for the renovation.

EFP’s review helped identify that the existing sprinkler system could support the residential shelter use, while certain nonresidential areas and the aging fire alarm system required careful upgrades. The design included a new fire alarm approach with notification and detection features appropriate for sleeping areas, along with coordinated sprinkler modifications for the renovated floor plan. EFP also provided construction-phase support, including shop drawing review, RFI responses, site observation, and acceptance testing support. This helped the owner and design team establish a clear fire/life safety path for converting an existing commercial building into a functional year-round shelter.