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.
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.
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.
Compliance with CAN/ULC-S1001 is now required for projects designed to meet the 2015 NBC ; 2018 BCBC and 2019 VBBL. Do your clients and building owners understand the formalized testing requirements to provide this deliverable for occupancy and have a procedure in place for periodic testing through the life cycle of the building?
Interconnected floor spaces are incorporated into many commercial and institutional buildings worldwide, yet they pose a unique challenge to the primary objectives of the Building Code to mitigate fire spread and safeguard occupant egress. The hazards presented by interconnection of floors within a building is recognised by building codes across the world; however, the accepted approach to mitigate these hazards differs across jurisdictions.
