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 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 […]
In June 2011, BC Hydro commenced implementation of its Smart Metering Program, which involved converting every residential property in British Columbia (BC) from legacy metering to wireless technology smart meters. This Smart Metering Program involves replacing existing electrical meters that are now becoming obsolete, with a comprehensive wireless smart metering system. In total, BC Hydro […]
Buildings face the greatest risk from fires during the construction phase. In recent years, there have been several examples across Canada of major construction site fires, including those in Calgary, Alberta in March 2015, Kingston, Ontario in December 2013 and Richmond, British Columbia in 2011. Many risks exist at construction sites, including: The proximity of […]
The Canadian government and the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (formerly known as Industry Canada) have adopted policy for Public Safety agencies and their use of wireless communication systems in the 700 MHz frequency band. New building construction is all about energy efficiency—keeping heat out in summer and holding on to it in […]
The purpose of this study is to describe firefighter injuries and deaths in structure-related fires and to investigate the underlying connection between building properties, including fire safety measures, and their effects on the risk to firefighters responding to a fire event. For the first time, comprehensive fire-related data across Canada is available in the form […]
In February 2016, Surrey Fire Service and Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services implemented their naloxone administration protocol in response to unprecedented numbers of opioid-related overdose calls. Both departments initiated training protocols to facilitate the necessary licensing of firefighters to administer intermuscular injections. The report titled “A Response to Illicit Drug Overdoses: Naloxone Administration in Surrey […]