Welcome to the Web page for the British Columbia Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. This webpage is for members of the chapter and for those interested in fire protection engineering in British Columbia.
A simple change proposed to the National Building Code of Canada led to a review of fundamental concepts meant to ensure fire protection and life safety. The task group on smoke tightness of closures found the Code was subject to wide ranging interpretations because the intents were unclear.
The reliability of water supplies, electrical, gas and other infrastructure in event of an earthquake is critical to the prevention of post-earthquake fires.
Vancouver has a secondary salt water supply system covering priority areas of Vancouver for contingency purposes in the event that the primary potable/fire supply is damaged by a seismic event.
The California Building Code requires secondary water supply systems in high buildings; however, there is no provision in Canadian codes- even for seismically active zones.
Even though “Smoke Control” is not a defined term in the Fire Code, smoke control features are commonly present in high-rise buildings. Per the requirement of the BC Fire Code, if you have smoke control measures in your building, you are obligated to have these tested to ensure satisfactory operations.
Due to a whole range of factors- not least of which is the mandating of water supplies for firefighting in the building code- there is much confusion about what water supply for firefighting actually should be- both in the context of the building code as well as in the context of the design of water supply infrastructure.
