Cheyenne is the only Wyoming market we serve, and property managers who also own Front Range property sometimes assume the compliance rules carry over. They don’t. Wyoming regulates fire protection systems through a different structure entirely, and knowing the difference matters if you’re scoping a project or hiring a contractor in Cheyenne.
Wyoming Uses State Plan Review, Not a Contractor Registration List
In Colorado, the state maintains five separate contractor registration categories for fire suppression work, and checking a contractor’s registration against the scope of a job is part of due diligence. Wyoming doesn’t work that way. The Wyoming State Fire Marshal’s Office, part of the Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, requires state-level plan review for the installation, addition, or alteration of fire protection systems, including fire sprinklers, regardless of the project’s size or valuation. Submittals are reviewed against the 2024 International Fire Code and 2024 International Building Code.
There’s no equivalent public registration list to check in Wyoming the way there is with Colorado’s DFPC. Oversight happens through the plan review and acceptance testing process itself, and local jurisdictions can layer their own permitting rules on top of the state review. That means the state fire marshal’s office, headquartered in Cheyenne, still has to sign off on your project even though it’s physically in the same city.
Build the state plan review into your project timeline separately from any local permit process, since it is a distinct submittal, not a rubber stamp on the local one.
Backflow Testing Runs Through Cheyenne BOPU
Water service in Cheyenne is handled by the Board of Public Utilities (BOPU), and commercial and industrial customers are required to have backflow prevention devices tested annually by a certified backflow prevention assembly tester. Results have to be reported to BOPU’s Water Cross Connection Control Office.
For fire lines specifically, BOPU requires a double check valve assembly on fire lines without antifreeze or chemical additives, and a high-hazard device (an RPZ) on systems where those additives are present. That distinction is the same logic Colorado utilities use, but it’s BOPU’s own program, with its own reporting office at [email protected] or 307-637-6471, not connected to any Colorado utility’s cross-connection program. If you’re not sure your assembly is current, our backflow testing team can check it.
What to Ask Before You Hire in Cheyenne
Since Wyoming doesn’t publish a searchable contractor registration list, the due diligence looks different than it does in Colorado. Ask a prospective contractor how many Wyoming state plan review submittals they’ve handled, since a contractor who only works in Colorado may not be familiar with the state’s submittal process or its acceptance testing requirements. Ask who handles the BOPU backflow report if your project includes a fire line assembly, and confirm they’re certified to test it. And if your GC is coordinating multiple trades on a Cheyenne project, confirm early which submittals go to the state fire marshal’s office and which go through the local building department, since the two are not the same review.
What This Means for Your Building
If you’re planning fire protection work in Cheyenne, whether it’s a new installation, a tenant improvement, or an annual backflow test, don’t assume the process mirrors what you’re used to on the Colorado side of the state line. Wyoming’s state plan review adds a step Colorado projects don’t have, and Cheyenne BOPU’s backflow program runs entirely separate from anything Denver Water, Aurora Water, or Boulder or Fort Collins utilities require.
Elevation Fire Protection works across both states and handles the state plan review process, fire line installation, and BOPU-reported backflow testing for commercial properties in Cheyenne. If you’re scoping a project or need your last backflow test checked, visit our inspections and testing page, see how we serve the Cheyenne area, or call (720) 382-9669.