Between June 1 and August 27, 2026, the San Francisco Fire Department issued 752 violations at properties across the city, roughly 250 to 320 every month. We read all of them. The pattern is striking: the most common problems are not exotic hazards. They are lapsed maintenance on the exact systems fire protection contractors service every day.
The most common violations are maintenance failures
Across the full public record, the most frequently cited categories are:
| Violation category | Citations, all-time in this dataset |
|---|---|
| Fire alarm system not maintained | 5,983 |
| Extinguisher service required | 2,438 |
| Test & maintenance documentation missing | 2,149 |
| Sprinkler 5-year service overdue | 2,064 |
| Emergency lighting repair required | 1,531 |
Source: DataSF "Fire Violations" dataset, retrieved August 27, 2026. The dataset holds 53,604 records dating to 2015 and refreshes daily.
Violations cluster by building
Violations rarely arrive alone. In the last week of August alone, one residential complex received a dozen open items across three addresses in five days: fire pump, sprinkler testing, standpipe maintenance, alarm maintenance, and rated-door repairs together. One SOMA office high-rise received six items in a single inspection, including certificate gaps.
For a contractor, that clustering matters. A building with one violation needs a fix; a building with six needs a program. It is also the clearest available signal that nobody is currently under contract at that property.
The backlog is real
As of late August, the dataset shows 2,443 violations currently open and another 989 under an order to abate. Thousands of unresolved obligations, each attached to a specific address, each carrying a legal requirement to correct.
Why we track this
BriggsAnalytics monitors these records daily, groups them by property, classifies which trade each item belongs to, and delivers the small number of genuinely actionable opportunities to contractors in their territory, with the official record ID attached to every one.
We see the same shape in the markets we currently serve. In Buffalo, 46 of 51 violations issued in a single month were still unresolved.