ARS PROPERTY-MANAGEMENT FIELD GUIDE

Property Manager Fire Emergency Response Plan

A practical building-level checklist for protecting occupants, organizing access, coordinating vendors, preserving evidence, and maintaining continuity after a fire or smoke event.

Emergency authority controls the scene. Evacuation, re-entry, utility, investigation, and life-safety directions from the fire department and other authorities take priority over property-management procedures.

Prepare before an incident

Property information packet

Current site plan, unit map, gate and lockbox procedures, utility shutoff locations, riser and fire-control-room information, and known access limitations.
Owner, manager, after-hours contact, maintenance lead, insurer, broker, emergency restoration, electrician, plumber, HVAC, security, elevator, roofing, and fire-system contacts.
Resident roster and a confidential process for known mobility, communication, or assistance needs.
Vendor authorization limits: who may order emergency work, maximum initial commitment, and who approves expanded scope.
Locations for temporary resident assembly, media staging, vendor check-in, and secure document storage.

Quarterly readiness check

Verify contact numbers and ownership assignments.
Confirm keys, access codes, maps, shutoff labels, and vendor insurance requirements.
Review resident communication channels and language-access needs.
Test the incident-log template and backup storage location.

Incident phase: first two hours

Support evacuation and accountability: direct occupants to follow emergency instructions; do not send staff into the building to search.
Establish one management lead: identify the person communicating with the incident commander or designated fire-department contact.
Open the incident log: record time, event, person, instruction, action, and next owner.
Protect resident information: share only what emergency response requires and keep public communications factual.
Notify ownership and insurer: report confirmed facts, not theories about cause, coverage, or responsibility.
Control vendor access: require check-in and confirm the scene has been released before anyone enters.
Address immediate exposure: once authorized, coordinate board-up, roof covering, active-water stabilization, fencing, lighting, or security appropriate to the condition.

Two to twenty-four hours

Building and unit status board

Track each area as: no access, authority access only, escorted access, temporary access, or released for defined work. Record who set the status, when, and what restriction remains.

Resident communication

Use one verified update channel and timestamp every notice.
Separate confirmed facts, instructions, available assistance, and unresolved questions.
Never promise a re-entry time, coverage, reimbursement, or repair completion date that has not been confirmed.
Explain how residents request essential-item retrieval and who controls approval.

Loss documentation

Exterior and common-area conditions from permitted locations.
Fire-department access points and visible suppression-water pathways.
Unit, corridor, stairwell, attic, roof, utility, and mechanical-area status.
Every emergency authorization, vendor arrival, work area, material removal, equipment placement, and access limitation.

Twenty-four to seventy-two hours

Consolidate the insurer, adjuster, ownership, resident, vendor, and authority contact list.
Define the stabilization scope separately from cleaning, contents, investigation, and reconstruction.
Establish a contents-access and chain-of-custody process for units and common areas.
Identify life-safety, utility, electrical, structural, environmental, elevator, fire-system, and HVAC evaluations still required.
Set a daily coordination time and issue a short written status update afterward.
Track decisions needed, responsible person, deadline, evidence required, and completion status.
Begin continuity planning for leasing, rent processing, package handling, mail, security, maintenance requests, records access, and contractor parking.

Vendor scope and control checklist

Legal business name, primary contact, license and insurance information where applicable.
Specific authorized task, areas, price basis, and spending limit.
Access window, check-in point, keys or escort, and resident privacy rules.
Required pre-work photographs and daily documentation.
Material-removal, contents-movement, storage, and disposal approval process.
Change-order authority and the condition that triggers written approval.
Safety, dust, odor, noise, water, and security controls relevant to occupied areas.
Daily report format, equipment log, moisture or condition records, and closeout deliverables.

Emergency contact worksheet

Print this page and complete the following fields for each property:

Property name, address, building count, unit count, construction type, and access notes.
Owner representative and after-hours authority.
Property manager and maintenance lead.
Fire alarm/sprinkler, electrical, gas, water, HVAC, elevator, security, roofing, and emergency restoration contacts.
Insurance carrier, broker/agent, policy number location, and claim-reporting channel.
Emergency spending authority and second-level approval.
Resident notification methods and alternate-language resources.
Assembly point, vendor staging area, secure key control, and temporary management location.

Re-entry, turnover, and after-action review

Re-entry decisions belong to the applicable authorities and responsible building professionals—not the communications schedule. Before management represents an area as ready, document the authority releases, utility and system status, work completed, remaining limitations, resident instructions, and the person approving occupancy-related communication.

Within two weeks, hold an after-action review: what happened, what worked, where information failed, which vendor or access delays mattered, what the resident experience revealed, and which contact, authorization, building-data, or training records must be updated.

Related resources

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Sources, scope, and review status

Last reviewed: September 2026. This resource is educational and does not replace instructions from the fire department, emergency services, your insurer, a licensed engineer, an environmental professional, or medical personnel. ARS does not determine insurance coverage.