In the past few years, the Province of British Columbia has experienced a substantial increase in the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths. In absolute numbers, illicit drug overdose deaths related to opioid use increased from 294 in 2010 to 1,489 in 2018. Much of this appears due to the introduction of synthetic narcotics such […]
Research over time indicates that smoking materials continue to be a leading cause of residential fires in Canada. With newer data available through the NFID and provincial annual fire reports, this study intends to provide a more recent picture of fire risks related to smoking – including the potential impact of increased e-cigarette use in […]
This paper summarizes the findings from an analysis of the fire protection performance of sprinkler systems and smoke alarms in residential and multi-level residential buildings in the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick between 2005 and 2015 inclusive. The primary focus is on the relationship between the presence of protective […]
Secondary suites are becoming more common as a way to relieve the burden of rising housing prices in British Columbia and basements are often converted for this purpose. However, home owners often circumvent the permission and inspection requirements for these conversions in order to save on expensive upgrades for compliance. As a result, there are […]
This guide is designed to help your community take a leadership role in supporting your most at-risk children to experience more stable childhoods, meet their developmental milestones, and build the skills they need to enjoy brighter futures as active members of society. In Canada, children who experience parental incarceration are statistically more likely than any […]
We offer the present framework to help communities and local organizations in contact with children of parents in conflict with the law cooperate with each other and develop a coherent approach to protecting and supporting these children, especially when their parents are imprisoned. Together, they can strengthen the protective environment around these children and help […]
This study was designed to support the anti-idling policies of Surrey Fire Service. Two major components were the adoption of fire trucks with Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) and changing behavioural attitudes towards turning off the main fire truck engine whenever possible. As such, the first component of the study aimed to determine the value APUs. […]
This report examines 868 residential fire incidents that were responded to by Surrey Fire Services between March 2008 and April 2018, inclusive, and reported to the British Columbia (BC) Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC). At a high-level, this research was intended to examine the relationship between a working fire safety system, fire service response […]
Reducing fires and saving lives is a mandate for all Fire Services. Globally, many departments have implemented door-to-door campaigns to educate their citizens on fire reduction and safety (TriData, 2009). However, focusing on an entire community is expensive, time consuming, and overall, an inefficient use of limited resources. A 2007 TriData report on best practices […]