The province has a new plan and funding in place to improve fire code compliance, and many fire chiefs are awaiting details on how it will roll out.
While municipalities are assigned responsibility for fire code inspections under the Fire Services Act, the provincial government reports a closer examination following recent tragic explosions at British Columbia sawmills reportedly revealed “gaps” related to inspections and jurisdictions.
100 Mile House Fire-Rescue chief Darrell Blades says the creation of the Fire Inspection and Prevention Initiative (FIPI) might be a positive move, if the funding benefits fire departments in the performance of BC Fire Code compliance inspections.
WorkSafeBC will invest $1 million over two years in an effort to reduce the fire risk to workers in industrial operations, and to improve company compliance.
Blades, who is a member of the Fire Chiefs' Association of British Columbia (FCABC), explains the group's main question is “who is the million bucks being spent on?”
“If it's being spent on local fire departments to apply for more training for the guys doing inspections, then it makes sense.
“Or, is it is only going to be spent on WorkSafe BC and B.C. Safety Authority (BCSA) people? Because if that is happening, then we're not improving anything.”
The provincial government states this new funding is based on its belief that small municipalities “often lack the expertise and resources to conduct inspections at high-risk industrial operations under the BC Fire Code,” and to improve awareness of employers' fire safety obligations.
However, Blades says WorkSafeBC inspectors and BCSA safety officers are currently not qualified or mandated to conduct municipal fire code inspections, as these inspections are done by the local fire department, when one exists.
He notes the site inspections are “nothing new,” and facility owners already know they are accountable.
“The first line of the fire code and the building code is, as a building owner you are responsible to maintain your building.”
Blades says he performs annual inspections at the mills in 100 Mile House, so he's confident they comply with fire code documentation requirements.
“Our concern from the fire service is we don't have the expertise to inspect those types of [high-risk] facilities, so we can use the training.”
A lot of the high-risk facility inspections relate to engineered systems, but the fire chiefs and crew can only walk through, look at their set up and then make suggestions and give pointers, he explains.
“If you have one or two mills that you inspect once a year, you're not going to become an expert at inspecting them.
“I'm hoping some of that some of that money is going to be allocated to local fire prevention staff throughout the province, and maybe we'll get to take some additional courses.”
He adds FCABC is working with WorkSafe BC and the BCSA, and it expects to have these answers early in the new year.