City hopes to see savings through composite fire department staffing model
Fire departments could save 35 per cent and maintain current response times by switching to composite fire departments according to a study by Adam Found a University of Toronto economics PhD candidate. Fund’s study, entitled “Economies of Scale in Fire and...
The Station Street nightclub fire 10 years later
Four people who wrote books about the Station Street Nightclub fire that killed 100 and injured 200 people are interviewed in this powerful article. John Barylick, author and an attorney, who represented fire victims in what would become a $176 million...
Smart gloves may help firefighters in the future
A University of Minnesota assistant professor, Lucy Dunne, is working to come up with a way firefighters can find their way around a smoke-filled environment without having to touch anything with their gloves. Dunne put a sensor in a standard-issue firefighter glove,...
Municipal Fire Inspection Programs
As a result of some major industrial fires in BC questions are being raised in the media about who is the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) for fire safety inspections. In British Columbia municipalities are required by Section 26 (1) of the Fire Services Act...
Frequency of Municipal Fire Inspection Programs
We recently responded to a request for information about the frequency of fire safety inspections required in BC by the Fire Services Act. Our client mentioned that the Fire Commissioners Office said it was up to the local jurisdiction to determine what the frequency...
Legal Action Resulting from Delay Connecting to Fire Hydrant
A fire department received a call to a fire in a building under construction. They arrived and connected to a hydrant located in front of the building. Unfortunately the hydrant, which was installed by the building owner, had not been connected to the...
Do Incandescent Light Bulbs Cause Fires?
There is a lot of technical information available about the temperature generated by incandescent light bulbs. In general terms, the filament temperature inside an incandescent light bulb can exceed 2000 degrees Celsius. Considering the ignition temperature of paper...
Witchcraft, Hocus Pocus and Fire Investigation
Witchcraft is often thought of as the use of magical powers, that witches are an agent of the devil and that witches use their powers to harm people and property. Witchcraft is one way of explaining human misfortune by a supernatural power or person in the community....
Fire Safety Inspections of Licensed Community Care Faciliites in British Columbia
There are several regulations that govern care facilities operating from traditional single family dwellings in British Columbia. The Child Care Licensing Regulation and the Residential Care Licensing Regulation are both administered by the Community Care Licensing...
Counterfeit Smoke Alarms in Atlanta
This weekend firefighters in Atlanta, Georgia went door-to-door in some of the city's low-income neighborhoods to replace free fire alarms that may be counterfeit. The fire department unwittingly distributed 18,500 bogus photoelectric smoke alarms from 2006 through...
Recent Articles
Yellowknife to Fort McMurray: lessons from the frontlines of Canada’s worst wildfires.
Volunteer firefighters see doubling in tax credit.
Oro-Medonte fire chief smokes out several ways to boost revenue.
Ahead of likely ‘ferocious’ wildfire season, fire chiefs lament drop in volunteers.
Vancouver firefighters get $2.8M from city to procure gear free of cancer-causing chemicals.
