A new report from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) states “with the advent of new materials and innovative products for use in construction of single-family houses, there is a need to understand what impacts these materials and products will have on occupant life safety, under fire conditions and a need to develop a technical basis for the evaluation of their fire performance.” The results clearly indicate that while these new construction materials provide a structurally sound alternative to solid wood construction, thereby reducing the impact on our environment, they are susceptible to failure in a basement fire situation, far sooner than solid wood construction components used previously.
These new building materials are essential to the protection of our environment and the control of rising home construction costs. C.A.S.A. believes that the combined use of a residential fire sprinkler system and these new lightweight, environmentally sound building products, will provide new home buyers with a home that not only meets the performance of solid wood construction but exceeds it.
C.A.S.A. President, John Galt, stated “with the information in this report Canadian home builders need to embrace fire sprinkler technology and start providing home buyers with this proven level of life safety for their families”.
Fires in homes account for the majority of fire fatalities in Canada, 80% of all fire deaths occur in residential properties. The City of Vancouver has proven through their fire sprinkler bylaw that residences with a fire sprinkler system and smoke detectors increase occupant survivability by 88%. In Vancouver, no fatalities have occurred in a residential property equipped with a fire sprinkler system installed to N.F.P.A. 13D since the implementation of their bylaw.
The Canadian Automatic Sprinkler Association (C.A.S.A.) welcomes the National Research Council (N.R.C.) summary report on “STUDY OF UNPROTECTED FLOOR ASSEMBLIES IN BASEMENT FIRE SCENARIOS” C.A.S.A. is proud to have been a partner in of this study and looks forward to participating in future studies.
About C.A.S.A.: C.A.S.A. is the voice of the sprinkler industry in Canada, representing contractors, designers and manufactures across Canada. C.A.S.A is a national leader in home fire safety and injury prevention through the use of residential fire sprinklers. Incorporated in 1961 C.A.S.A. has long been the leading advocate of fire sprinklers in Canada in the fight to reduce deaths as a result of fire. For more information on residential sprinklers please visit the following web sites: www.casa-firesprinkler.org www.homefiresprinkler.org
Maria Figueroa
Maria Figueroa December 17, 2008 at 11:30 pm
It is very timely for the NRC to publish this report. The NIOSH report on firefighter fatalities cites many instances where firefighters have died as a result of this type construction. Everything in this report underscores the reasons why we need fire sprinklers in residential structures and we need them NOW!!! Let’s not lose any more firefighters in unsprinklered occupancies. We need to present a united front and demand, not ask, for residential sprinkler mandates.