The Kansas State Fire Marshal's Office (KSFM) is responsible for creating and enforcing regulations related to fire safety. KSFM's regulations adopt the 2006 edition of the International Code Council's International Fire Code, the 2006 edition of the National Fire Protection Association's Life Safety Code, and other similar standards. KSFM inspects residential facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities, for compliance with the Life Safety Code. KSFM inspects childcare facilities for compliance with the International Fire Code. We found KSFM does inconsistent inspections of residential and childcare facilities. For example, not all inspectors check the same things, and some inspectors don't cite facilities for certain violations. We also found inspectors don't adequately support the violations they cite with references to applicable requirements. These issues were due to the vast number of requirements inspectors are responsible for and inadequately designed controls.

Local fire departments may also inspect residential and childcare facilities for fire safety, either under an agreement with KSFM or independently. We found KSFM and 3 local fire departments (Hays, Olathe, and Newton) had similar processes for inspecting residential and childcare facilities. However, the 3 local departments inspect according to more recent editions of the International Fire Code than KSFM does. KSFM used the 2006 edition, while the 3 departments used editions from between 2015 and 2024. Differences between the editions likely contributed to inspection inconsistencies and stakeholder frustration.