By Sean Tracey, FIFireE
In our continuing efforts to educate the fire service, municipal officials, and the public about the benefits of residential fire sprinklers, we are sometimes required to clear up misunderstandings about sprinklers and their role in the National Building Code. Often the confusion is that people believe the only way to require sprinklers is through the adoption of a municipal bylaw. This is simply not true. Sprinklers can easily be approved at the local level as alternative solutions.
The National Building Code of Canada and the various provincial versions specify method of construction, number of storeys, and when sprinklers may be required in certain types of occupancies. Nowhere does the NBC prohibit the use of sprinklers. In 3.2.5.12, Automatic Sprinkler Systems, the code defines when NFPA 13 can be used, or the less stringent requirements of either NFPA 13R or 13D. Simply put: if you install sprinklers then they will be installed to one of the three NFPA standards. The key point is that you can have sprinklers installed in buildings other than those identified within the code. In fact, there are numerous examples throughout the building code where sprinklers can be used as alternative solutions to address code compliance in what would otherwise be non-sprinklered buildings.
When the NBC transitioned to an objective-based code in 2005, the intention was to open opportunities for alternative solutions. Designers and enforcement officials could have two options for code compliance: the previous prescriptive requirements (now acceptable solutions); or the ability to submit alternative solutions. The alternative solutions would open the door to greater flexibility in design, leading to cost savings, innovation, etc. A designer could submit a well-developed alternative solution for approval if it could be shown that the overall objectives were met, and the alternative solution was equal to or better that the accepted solutions. This is where the beauty of home fire sprinklers can come to the forefront. If there is an alternative solution that increases the likelihood that fires will be suppressed or contained, and there is a potential decrease to loss of life and injury, then we have an excellent proven alternative solution. We thus see sprinklers being proffered in many alternative solutions.
Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Canada has been promoting the use of incentives during development design to overcome challenges presented by prescriptive code requirements. When home fire sprinklers are installed, both developers and consumers can benefit significantly.
One clear example of home fire sprinklers as an alternative solution is in addressing limiting distances (the spaces between buildings). The NBC states in 9.10.15.3: If your fire department cannot guarantee its first apparatus can arrive to a residential call in 10 minutes for 90 per cent of its calls, then the limiting distance is reduced by 50 per cent. This means that instead of the actual distance being say 1.2 metres, you must consider it to be 0.6 metres in all calculations. This has a very serious effect on what can be permitted for construction including the percentage of openings between homes. The distances are not halved if the building is sprinklered. So, if there is development happening outside of the 10-minute response time for the fire department, developers need to double the distances to the lot lines. A proven acceptable solution is if all the homes are sprinklered the sprinklers essentially replace the delayed response time of the municipal fire service; fire is suppressed or extinguished by the home fire sprinklers, which gives the fire department the added time to respond and reduces the risk of building-to-building fire spread.
NOTE: You can see the map of your municipality’s response times that Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) has produced here: https://fireunderwriters.ca/grading/municipal-portal.html
Other examples of alternative solutions involving sprinklers include acceptance of less-than-favourable fire department access routes. Any delay in response time can be offset by having sprinklers supress or contain the fire. As well, if municipalities cannot meet the required firefighting flows as per the FUS fire flow calculation model, an alternative solution is to require home fire sprinklers. Fire flows can be reduced by up to 50 per cent, and this can be a significant infrastructure saving to a community.
HFSC Canada has been a champion for the use of sprinklers as incentives for new construction. You can find on this site examples in previous posts, case studies, and other resources that outline how home fire sprinklers have been successfully adopted as an alternative solution.
If you or your community wish to learn more, do not hesitate to reach out to us. Even better, consider joining our Built for Life Fire Department program that provides resources, information and first notice about our $500 stipends – it’s free, and here’s the link: https://homefiresprinklercanada.ca/built-for-life-fire-departments/
