When is fire watch required in Alberta?
When fire watch is required in Alberta: what happens when fire alarms or sprinklers are offline, what a fire watch officer does, and how to arrange one.
When a fire watch is needed
Under the Alberta Fire Code, building owners are responsible for keeping fire protection systems working. When a fire alarm, sprinkler system or other fire protection system is shut down, impaired or out of service, the owner is expected to notify the fire department and put alternative safety measures in place until the system is restored. A fire watch is the most common of those measures.
Typical situations include:
- Fire alarm or sprinkler repairs, upgrades or testing
- Renovations and construction that disable part of a system
- Freeze-ups, water damage or power outages that knock a system offline
- Hot work such as welding or cutting near combustible materials
- New buildings occupied before every system is commissioned
Confirm the rules with your fire authority
Exact requirements, such as how often rounds must be made and what must be logged, are set by the authority having jurisdiction, which is usually the local fire department. Some municipalities publish their own fire watch guidelines. Before a planned shutdown, call your fire department, tell them what will be out of service and for how long, and ask what they expect. This article is general information, not legal or code advice.
What a fire watch officer does
A fire watch officer patrols the areas no longer protected by the system, on a set schedule, looking for fire, smoke, gas odours and anything that could start a fire. If something is found, they raise the alarm, call 911 and help people get out.
- Continuous patrols of affected areas on a fixed schedule
- Checks of exits, stairwells and hot-work areas
- A written log of every round, with times and findings
- Notifying the fire department and building contacts if a hazard is found
Fire, flood and gas watch
The same approach applies when other systems are offline. A flood watch covers buildings with damaged plumbing or heating during cold weather, and a gas watch covers sites where gas detection is out of service. Cliffs Security provides fire watch security, including flood and gas watch, in Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Sherwood Park and across the Capital Region.
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