A fire department’s master plan is a public document that lays out how the department intends to protect its community over the next 5-10 years. It covers what the fire department understands the community’s growth is expected to be, what the population demographics are, and identifies the risks that are present. It then typically spells out how to go about protecting the community with the department’s current and future programs and resources.
Master plans are unique to every community and each plan spells out how that department will protect its citizens. Your department’s support of installed fire sprinklers belongs in your master plan. Now is the time to ensure your plan underscores this support.
Typical master plans focus along three lines of fire safety: public safety education; fire safety standards and enforcement; and when the first two lines of defence fail – emergency response. Installed fire sprinklers play a key role in all three lines of defence.
Public Safety Education Educating the public about the benefits of choosing sprinklers in new home purchases and educating those already living with sprinklers should be a component of public safety messaging. So should alerting the public to the dangers of modern home fires and the unique way sprinklers can protect them and their loved ones. HFSC Canada’s free materials and home fire sprinkler resources make both of these goals easier to achieve. One of the largest hurdles that Canadian Fire Chiefs identified in their survey of CAFC members in preparation for the White Paper on Sprinklers was the lack of public awareness of these systems. Clearly stating your position in a public document increases awareness.
Incentivizing sprinklers in new home builds helps fire departments expand the number of citizens protected from fire, reducing fire fatalities, property loss, and a home fire’s impact on the environment. HFSC’s Lunch and Learn sessions promoting incentivization have led to more communities building home developments with installed fire sprinklers, protecting occupants for decades to come.
Home fire sprinklers aren’t just for civilians. When fires in sprinklered homes occur, sprinklers automatically suppress or contain the fire. This reduces the toxic exposure and injury risks to responding firefighters.
CAFC Supports Home Fire Sprinklers Support for residential sprinklers has been a leading policy issue for the CAFC since 2004. This has also been reaffirmed in the CAFC’s 2022 White Paper on sprinklers. Like smoke alarms and CO alarms, sprinklers should be the third platform of public safety programs. The department’s position on these should be acknowledged with at least a paragraph in the master plan.
State Your Department’s Support Recognizing the importance of sprinklers can be as simple including any or all the following in your master plan. Each of these is a simple statement that has no direct costs, yet reaffirms the level of support your department has for installed sprinklers and life safety. You may want to list the statements in order of increasing importance, underscoring the following:
• Reaffirm the position of the CAFC and international fire service community in support of installed residential sprinklers.
• State that your fire department recognizes the societal benefits of installed residential fire sprinklers and actively encourages the use of incentives to promote their wider use in new-home builds.
• Proudly state that your fire department is an active member of HFSC Canada’s Built for Life® Fire Department program. This includes using Built for Life Fire Department program resources and materials in local home fire sprinkler education and community outreach programs.
• Note that your fire department includes public sprinkler education messaging whenever possible, including during the annual Home Fire Sprinkler Week each May and its annual smoke alarm and or CO alarm campaigns.
• Affirm that your department takes a proactive role in the review and approval of development design to ensure that planned new-home developments can be serviced with adequate firefighting water supplies and can be responded within set response times with an effective firefighting force. In areas outside of the response capabilities, residential fire sprinklers shall be encouraged.
• Underscore incentives by noting your fire department shall work with builders and developers to encourage sprinklers in all new home developments.
The fire department’s master plan is an excellent opportunity to express your support for residential fire sprinklers. It tells the public, your elected officials, developers and others of your commitment to life safety. It puts valuable incentives on the table to encourage more homes being built with these life saving features.
When your community’s master plan is next up for renewal why not considering stating your department’s views about residential fire sprinklers? It may just be the opening of a door needed for broader acceptance.
Join us 12-18 May for Home Fire Sprinkler Week™. HFSC Canada shall be preparing public safety messaging that your department can use. Standby for more information on this website.