[Roel Bus]

Jon has already hit all the nails (and I second the “Wow!”), but I wanted to respond anyway. Our City has threatened to do the same thing, but that is now a few years ago. I have not heard whether this is still happening or not. We were also told to email photos, which is a pain for a few inspection photos, let alone the dozens of investigation photos.

With the focus primarily on security, IT departments can really make life difficult. In our City, attachments are archived way too soon, anything that is sent in a .zip file is intercepted, etc.

I think this is a topic for senior management, where the Chief may use some ‘common sense’ influence.

Having said all that, depending on what phone you’re using. If it’s an iphone like we have, you can use (or create) your iCloud account. You can sign into iCloud on a browser, and move photos that way. This is also less ideal than USB or card readers, but slightly better than emailing photos…

[Roel Bus]

Update from Sarnia:

Our Chief has written three letters, designating “fire prevention officers” and “fire inspectors” for the following:
– Article 14, 19 and 20 for the investigation of origin, cause and circumstances of fire, where the restriction is the requirement to be certified to NFPA 1033
– Article 14, 19, and 20 to inspect land and premises, with the restriction being the requirement to be certified to NFPA 1031 (no level indicated)
– CFO delegation, with restrictions of approval of Alternative Solutions, extensions of time or life safety studies.

So no prevention officer is named, the delegation applies to any of the members of the division as long as they have the qualifications.

[Roel Bus]

I realize this is an old thread, but we discussed CFO delegation in our divisional meeting this morning.
Our Chief is wondering if the Prevention Division as a whole can be delegated, or if they have to be individual.

Thanks

[Roel Bus]

Hey Delbert,

Sarnia does not have any formal specific Christmas decorations policy. We are going to be updating our policies and guidelines this year, so that is something to be considered.

[Roel Bus]

Ours is very similar to Richmond Hill’s current no on-call, and Vince is right, it doesn’t work. For a while, management approved to call in overtime suppression staff to hold the scene overnight, until one of our two investigators could attend in daylight, but that has since been taken off the table. Discussions aplenty, no solutions as of yet…

[Roel Bus]

Sarnia uses carbon paper in the field (wait, what does the year say: 2018, yes, yes it does…) and then FDM in the office. We are looking into the mobile version of FDM and then use either laptops or tablets, probably the latter, in the field. FDM has a lot of capabilities that we are still discovering (we’ve used the program for probably 15 years), and I do think the advantage is that suppression, training and prevention including in the future hopefully investigations, are all searchable and accessible within the same program.

[Roel Bus]

I agree with Darren. If we keep doing a good job of educating people and work on prevention, most fire safety equipment “gets rarely used”. Until it does… The last apartment fire I investigated, the crew did use the hose in the cabinet.

[Roel Bus]

Vince,
1. Sarnia makes sure we have a few certified in Fire Protection and are registered as building inspectors with the OBOA. We currently have one, but more are in the process.
2. Yes. Only the ones that have taken the OBOA courses.
3. Generally yes, with the Building Inspector and currently upon his calling us.
4 & 5. Building does not pay our wages or our fees currently. A review may be conducted soon, as we are also reviewing a lot of our business.
Thanks for posting, it’s an interesting topic

[Roel Bus]

I have recently issued a Part 15 to the owner of a single family residence, where the clutter was very close to a working gas stove. In this case their was a mental health situation as well, and this way there was some ammunition to start mitigating the situation. I did remove the notice as soon as there was a 3 feet clearance from the stove and a clear path out of the house.
Until recently, we did not issue orders on single family residences, because other than smoke- and CO alarms, the Fire Code does not apply. But we have to keep in mind that the FPPA applies to every building. Obviously every situation is being judged on their own merit and discretion is being used.

[Roel Bus]

Hey Andrew,
Sarnia has a similar system as well. It sounds like there is no real “on-call” system anymore. 10-15 years ago we did have an on call list, where FPO’s got paid to be on call, but now communications calls one of our three investigators when needed. We are not required to go either, but of course it is much appreciated. It’s nice to be able to talk to the crew who fought the fire, but investigation is a daylight kind of a job in my opinion.

[Roel Bus]

In Sarnia, we have a by-law that allows open air burning under certain circumstances, which falls under “approved” in clause 2.4.4.4(1)(a) of the Fire Code. If the pits at this assembly were never approved by the Chief Fire Official and you’re not going to, then they are in violation of that clause in the Fire Code.
The appliance that Sentence (2) refers to, is a barbeque essentially, not a fire pit.
You could use an inspection order to have the pits removed, which may or may not be necessary after explaining they are in violation of the Code

[Roel Bus]

Hey Scott,
If I read the Code as a lawyer and go by what can be enforced, I am going to say that it pertains to the testing and inspecting sections of NFPA 10. Because as far as the general requirements, Subsections 6.2.1 – 6.2.6 take care of that for the Code, which may or may not totally follow NFPA 10. So I think we can recommend the general requirements of NFPA 10, and only enforce the testing and inspection parts.
My two cents.
Roel

[Roel Bus]

Ken,
For the most part I agree with you that the responsibility should be with the owner.
However, we don’t want to leave a home when it is unprotected, even if it is at a time when an alarm could still easily be purchased (during business hours, which for that is about 7am-9pm every day…).
We will likely also incorporate a “fee for service” in case an alarm has not been purchased in the appropriate time, stated on the loaner form, or depending on their demeanor, issue a ticket.
Part of the reason for this is, especially with CO alarms, that we could deal with a faulty detector, not just people in non-compliance

[Roel Bus]

Good morning Gary,
We are also in the process of revamping our policy, to include CO alarms. In the past we have used two sided tape as well. We are going to use a loaner form, so we can track the units, provide the reason for installation (faulty alarm, missing or disabled). We give them three days to buy one, at which time Prevention will go to retrieve our alarm and it’s a chance to follow up as well.

[Roel Bus]

We have a by-law regulating the buying and setting off of fireworks, it is not outright prohibited. We make a distinction between “public” and “private” display. A private display has to be set off on private property, and is limited to smaller pieces, and goes on to mention some examples.
Our office did receive a complaint today, but the by-law is not specific in limiting the size of the fireworks allowed to be set off. It is quite clear on timeframe: 7 days prior to Victoria Day, Canada Day and the US Independence Day (probably because of our close proximity to Michigan.

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