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.
Fire Research Group and the University of Canterbury have recently completed a research project funded by the SFPE Foundation. The research project conducted an international survey of fire model usage amongst fire safety practitioners and used the results from the survey to make recommendations to SFPE and the Foundation on a future workplan to help support and improve the usage of fire models.
Over the years there has been many advances in firestopping technology; however in some instances there is still lack of available firestop systems; and in other instances firestop systems are misused or installed incorrectly. In addition, there are cases where Code requirements with respect to firestopping is not clear, where professionals have to make judgement call with respect to the level of protection required or suitability of the system proposed.
In this presentation Khash Vorell of GHL will cover the following:
SFPE recently received a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant to create a virtual handbook using engineering-based resources to support firefighters and fire departments operating in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). Current WUI property fire risk assessments are often based on simple checklists that don’t provide fire departments with the flexibility they need to make informed recommendations on assessment and mitigation in the field. Moreover, fire departments around the United States vary greatly in their experience of fire hazards in the WUI.
The ‘Camp’ Fire ignited on November 8, 2018 in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Butte County, California. The first 24 hours were characterized by a fast-moving fire with initial spread driven by high winds up to 22 m/s (50 mi/h) and long-range spotting up to 6.3 km (3.9 mi) into the community. The fire quickly impacted the communities of Concow, Paradise, and Magalia. The Camp Fire became the most destructive and deadly fire in California history, with over 18 000 destroyed structures, 700 damaged structures, and 85 fatalities.
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.
