What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on PE-13 Fire Protection?

Physical and environmental protection policy; Procedures addressing fire protection; Fire suppression and detection devices/systems; Fire suppression and detection devices/systems documentation; Test records of fire suppression and detection devices/systems; System security plan.

What is the most common gap auditors find on PE-13?

Fire detection and suppression systems are not supported by an independent energy source during a power outage

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · PE - Physical and Environmental Protection

`PE-13` Fire Protection

Employ and maintain fire detection and suppression systems that are supported by an independent energy source.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, PE-13. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Policy repository / GRC workspace

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Test records of fire suppression and detection devices/systems · Physical access / facilities
Test of Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing fire suppression/detection devices/systems · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Physical and environmental protection policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Procedures addressing fire protection · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Fire suppression and detection devices/systems · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Fire suppression and detection devices/systems documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Fire detection and suppression systems are not supported by an independent energy source during a power outage
Fire detection and suppression equipment lacks inspection and maintenance records confirming it remains operational

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

PE-12(1) Emergency Lighting | Essential Mission and Business Functions · PE-13(1) Fire Protection | Detection Systems: Automatic Activation and Notification