The number of fires in high-rise buildings increased by 10 per cent last year, according to the latest statistics from The Ontario Fire Marshal. The province also saw the total number of fatal fires rise to 109. Within many condos, there is a critical gap between fire safety and resident knowledge.
“Right now, residential building managers, superintendents and security staff all require training under the Ontario Fire Code,” says Jason Reid of National Life Safety Group. “However, the deaths and injuries are not occurring to them; they are impacting the residents—the only ones in a high-rise building who are not required to be familiar with their own unique roles and responsibilities.”
In the case of a fire alarm, a common belief before evacuating is to wait for advice from the security guard or for the fire department to arrive. “No where in the official emergency procedures does it say that security guards should help people out of the building and provide guidance to those who are phoning in,” says Reid.
Rather, they have a critical responsibility to go to the fire alarm panel, call 911, speak to the operator, make an announcement over the emergency voice communication system, go to fire safety plan box to get the plan, keys, a copy of floor plans and list of disabled people in the building, and then hand it to the fire department when they arrive.
Brent Brooks, acting Captain with Toronto Fire Services and specialist at High Rise Firefighting, says nuisance alarms have also caused complacency. “On average, it takes us 6 minutes to get to your place, and our vertical response time can take another 6 minutes on average. So, we really can’t help you until after 12 minutes of that first alarm going off.”
Residents have moments to decide whether to evacuate or shelter in place. “Once that building is filled with smoke, you can’t leave,” he warns.
Once the fire department does arrive, there needs to be a representative on-site who knows the building intimately, such as what stairwell leads to the roof. “In Canada, commercial properties have fire wardens, but there aren’t really any for residential, other than what the superintendent does—if they are on site,” he says. “Sometimes we get there, the alarm is going off, and they are not on site. That has its own layers of issues.”
Other gaps he flags are units with missing or damaged automatic door closers, which causes smoke-filled hallways. Charging electric scooters and bikes near emergency exits is a newer, yet common issue facing condos right now. He describes a recent event where a woman was trapped on her balcony. Her scooter caught on fire as it was charging inside her unit and blocking her exit.
While fire safety procedures are primarily found in a condo’s welcome package, the details largely go unread, explains Reid, who conducts resident education sessions for condo corporations across the province, which delve into all the roles and responsibilities of staff and residents.
Jennifer Lawther, a property manager with Whitehill Residential, oversees a condo in Mississauga where these sessions were piloted and continue annually. The 300-unit building is a tight-knit community, mostly consisting of seniors, with 50 persons requiring assistance.
“The residents walk away feeling more empowered about what to do during an emergency,” she says of the session. “They meet people they haven’t met before and it also creates a greater sense of community.”
They also grasp knowledge of the fire suppression and other life safety systems for better insight into the actual physical building, while hands-on activities create learning opportunities.
“Residents weren’t aware that if they see fire and smoke, it is their job to pull the manual pull station and inform the building,” says Reid. “Through the training, we learned some residents can’t pull the manual pull station, so they have an opportunity to physically do that to see if they are comfortable with it.”
Lawther also notes the tangible impact of resident education. A recent break-in at the condo’s garage resulted in the perpetrator pulling the fire alarm as a way to distract everyone on the way out. The next day, residents called down to say they hadn’t panicked like they would have before; rather they were calm and understood what to do. Security also had much fewer calls than usual.
Each year brings different educational focus areas. “2022 had the highest death rate Ontario has seen in 20 years, and 50 per cent of those were attributed to non-working smoke alarms,” says Reid. In an April interview, he said a current leading cause of fires is cooking and throwing smoking materials off balconies.
However, the only way to communicate emergency procedures to residents is by either posting them all over the building or sending owners a copy of the applicable pages of the fire safety plan, he adds. Evolving trends coupled with brand new residents creates urgent opportunities for more in-depth education. Reid says it’s not just about teaching the response; it’s also about education in fire prevention.
Jackie Walker, a property manager with Crossbridge Condominium Services, oversees a condominium in Guelph that recently took part in the session. “Rather than just sending out the policies and procedures once a year, we thought a resident information session would be beneficial for the residents to clarify some of the questions that keep coming up,” she says.
“There is always turnover; emergency situations change; sometimes you need to be added to the persons requiring assistance list and sometimes you don’t. “It’s a good learning opportunity for residents to clarify what they should and shouldn’t be doing and the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved.