Condo Residents; the often overlooked partner in your building’s fire safety plan.
A recent Condo fire in Saskatoon (May 27), with damages over 5 Million dollars , reveals numerous immediate lessons learned for Condo’s across Canada. The majority of these lessons learned seem to focus on resident actions, or in actions. Residents in your building also have roles and responsibilities for fire safety as with each Condominium across Canada. Fire Safety is a team approach and your fire safety plan, written just for your condo, must include the occupants. Failing to engage the residents means a part of your fire safety team – is not aware of their roles and responsibilities.
“Lessons Learned” briefly summarized below; Thankfully there were no reported injuries.
Improperly discarding of lit cigarette butts: The cause of the 24 unit condo fire, was the improper disposal of smoking material at the northeast corner of the property - damages are estimated at $5 million ! Engaging residents on their roles and responsibilities for fire safety, include where it is approved to “smoke” at the building, and where and how those lit materials shall be disposed of. In fact, your fire safety plan should state that “throwing cigarettes off of balconies is not permitted for fire safety reasons. If we don’t explain this important information to residents, how will they know that they too, are a part of the fire safety plan at this building. From a management Board governance perspective, I now have this in writing, and have communicated this to all parties in the building, and have proof that it was completed.
Resident fire safety procedures not followed: The Fire Alarm was not activated by residents, (as they walked past manual pull stations) even though they saw fire, smoke and were evacuating. This was confirmed by the local fire services upon their arrival at the building. Residents have their own unique emergency procedures in the event they see fire or smoke - again - oultined in the fire safety plan. These procedures include notifying the fire services via 911, but also, they are required to notify the remainder of the building they saw danger, by activating the fire alarm system by using the “manual pull station”, located at every emergency exit. Failing to do this important step, significantly delays the evacuation of everyone in the building, and contributes to the amount of people that must require assistance to evacuate.
Fire Alarms and notification of everyone in the building: While 911 was contacted and emergency services arrived swiftly, the fire department arrived and the fire alarm was still not activated by anyone - so many residents did not know of the ongoing danger. Just as building staff have roles and responsibilities, so do residents. If we do not engage our family of residents as a vital partner in the buildings fire safety plan – that means they are unaware of their roles and responsibilities – and this can obviously - negatively impact others in the building, as it did in this fire.
Implementing Condo Fire Safety Plans: Building Owners and Condo Corporations are required to “Implement” their fire safety plans, and a vital component of that “implementation, is the engagement of the residents, of their own roles and responsibilities. Training and education is not just for building staff.
Historically, a significant challenge for residential property managers is the engagement of residents to participate in emergency preparedness initiatives, but educating all parties with roles and responsibilities in your building fire safety plan is a vital step – required by fire code in every Province and Territory in Canada.
Building owners, building staff, AND residents have a role in fire safety. It is not only vital for both parties to understand each other’s roles, it is important for residents to understand that the decisions of others (other residents) also have an impact on their safety.
Property Managers, are most often hired by the Condominium Corporation to fully implement the fire safety plan at their building – on behalf of the corporation. Property Managers can educate their residents on their roles and responsibilities under the building’s approved fire safety plan, typically in one of two ways:
1) Send each resident / Suite Owner a digital scanned copy of the building emergency procedures directly from the approved Fire Safety Plan. Do this every 12 months and document that you did it.
2) Hold an in person / virtual educational session for residents – or via Zoom. Bring in a fire and life safety educator to ensure all persons who have roles and responsibilities in your fire safety plan – Understand those roles and responsibilities.
The practice of holding “resident information evenings” where occupants have an opportunity to review building emergency procedures, and understand the life safety features installed within their unique building - and of course, answer the infamous question “Do I leave when the fire alarm goes off at 2:00 AM?” has rapidly become the gold standard in ensuring residents understand the procedures in your building. Training is not just for building staff. For more information on National Life Safety Group’s Resident Education Program - See here.
For more information on this Fire in Saskatoon - See here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/sutherland-condo-building-fire-1.6469658
If you have questions about your building fire safety program, or fire safety plan, reach out and connect with us at www.nationallifesafetygroup.ca