In discussions with fire-service personnel and other people across Canada about home fire sprinklers, one consistent theme that emerges is the need for greater education to dispel the many myths and misconceptions. In the past, effective means to educate builders, fire-service personnel and home owners or home buyers have included side-by-side burns and other public events. But COVID-19 has required …
Determining adequate water supplies for fire fighting is essential prior to approval of projects. Under the National Building Code (NBC), all Part 3 buildings require separate verifications done for required fire flows. Part 9 buildings are addressed during subdivision planning. In Canada, municipalities rely predominantly upon the Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) calculations for determining the needed flows for new subdivisions. …
New home designs combined with highly combustible contents have created a perfect storm of increased risk to occupants and firefighter sin the pas 20 years. Unprotected, pre-engineered floors fail more quickly in fire conditions. Modern contents have changed compartment-fire dynamics such that flashover can occur within minutes. The burning of modern contents produces products that are more toxic than those …
For those new to residential fire sprinklers, it is beneficial to understand how the NFPA 13D standard fits into the regulatory framework. NFPA 13D has been around for more than 45 years and is constantly being reviewed, tweaked, and republished to reflect the latest in technology and our lived experiences with fires. In Canada, the national or provincial building codes …
Perhaps the greatest hurdle fire service professionals face in increasing the acceptance of home fire sprinklers is the number of myths circulating about them. Some of these are due to the movie and television industry showing the hero escaping a fire because all of the sprinklers activate at once. Other myths are the result of people perpetuating misconceptions like smoke …
Welcome to the HFSC blog, a series intended to increase the understanding of home fire sprinklers in Canada. Each month, we’ll cover a specific topic, and we invite readers to provide feedback and suggestions for future posts. Why are residential fire sprinklers a hot topic? Quite simply, fires are more ferocious than they were 30 or even 20 years ago. …
Q & A with Jason Benn, Assistant Chief, North Perth Fire Department Q: Why did you choose to install fire sprinklers in your home? JB: The reason for installing sprinklers in our home is if “I preach it, I need to do it”. “Lead by example if you will”. My family and pets are very important to me and …
With support from The Co-operators and the Canadian Automatic Sprinkler Association (CASA) the nonprofit Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) awarded 13 C$500 stipends and two (2) C$1,000 stipends to 15 Canadian fire departments to support home fire sprinkler community outreach events. Fire Departments may use the stipends to build or refurbish and conduct a fire and sprinkler side-by-side demonstration, build …
Written by Laura King, NFPA, Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Canada As safety advocates, we sometimes – often, actually – wonder if our work makes a difference, if anyone’s paying attention. Elaine Kenny paid attention. And now, new homes on Kwantlen First Nation in British Columbia are being built with home fire sprinklers. Kenny is the project manager for Kwantlen, …
As part of its ongoing nonprofit safety education mission, the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Canada is inviting Canadian fire departments to apply for new stipend awards that will increase local awareness of home fire sprinklers. With generous underwriting from the Co-operators, 20 qualifying departments will receive $500 to enhance their local outreach. The stipends will help fire departments of any …
