The Building Code requires Part 3 buildings to be provided with an “adequate water supply for firefighting”. This provision is intended to ensure that firefighting operations will be effective as part of the OS1 Fire Safety objective with the functional requirement of F02 to limit the severity of and effects of fire or explosion. Where the building is sprinklered throughout, this requirement is deemed met. However, how is this requirement met for unsprinklered building and in rural environments with limited or no municipal water supply available?
In urban environment, the local municipality typically will have planned and installed sufficient water supply for the building uses and sizes in relation to their property use bylaws (often called zoning bylaws) as part of the original subdivision development of the land. However, where the permitted property use allowances are changed as part of a development application, the available water supply can be insufficient to meet the current municipal civil engineering standards and the underlying Building Code assumptions.
In contrast, in rural environment, land may be being developed for buildings for the first time, and an adequate municipal water infrastructure does not exist or at best be severely inadequate.
We often deal with this issue, particularly for rural environments. The Building Code provides some guidance in the Notes to Part 3, and municipalities typically will have a minimum civil engineering standard or mandate the use of the Fire Underwriter’s Survey (FUS) to determine minimum firefighting water supply to the subject site. For urban environments where the dense building environment has a risk of conflagration, the FUS standard is often used and results in a significant water supply demand to support firefighting operations. However, the application of FUS to the rural environment can result in significant municipal upgrades being required that do not make the development feasible despite there being no urban conflagration risk. For the rural environment, alternative water supply design methods such as NFPA 1142, Standard on Water Supplies for Suburban and Rural Firefighting, often provides more affordable options with lower water demand requirement matched to the specific hazard with non-municipal water sources. Water sources can include rivers, ponds, and water storage tanks that are available for firefighters to draft from.
Recently, we supported an aerosol filling plant that was proposed to be located in the middle of a large field in a rural location. The local municipality did not provide a water service infrastructure, with private wells being the only available water source for landowners. For this project, we reviewed the proposed building in accordance with NFPA 1142 and were successful in negotiating with the local authority to provide a service road to the small river that flowed adjacent to the rear property line, so that the fire department could use the river as a water source for firefighting operations in a fire emergency.
If your project has water supply challenges, contact us to see how we might be able to support your project.