Toronto Fire Services Firewatch Standard Operating Guideline PDF

STANDARD OPERATING GUIDELINE FIREWATCH Date Issued: June 8, 2023 Rescinds: November 22, 2019 Section: Incident and Emergency Operations File Code: G-FIWA PURPOSE To provide all Toronto Fire Services personnel with a guideline for assigning / carrying out a firewatch. RESPONSIBILITY All personnel a...

STANDARD OPERATING GUIDELINE FIREWATCH Date Issued: June 8, 2023 Rescinds: November 22, 2019 Section: Incident and Emergency Operations File Code: G-FIWA PURPOSE To provide all Toronto Fire Services personnel with a guideline for assigning / carrying out a firewatch. RESPONSIBILITY All personnel are responsible for being knowledgeable of firewatch procedures. Platoon Chiefs are responsible and accountable for determining the requirement for, scheduling, implementing, and maintaining a firewatch for all structure fires that occur in their area of jurisdiction. Platoon Chiefs shall assign a fire watch in accordance with this SOG for all 2nd alarm fires and greater, and any other incident that warrants operations crews be kept on scene due to ensure final extinguishment has been accomplished. Platoon Chiefs are responsible and accountable for documenting the exercise of their discretion to not implement a fire watch for all structure fires in their area of jurisdiction, including their assessment and rationale, and forwarding to their Division Commander in writing before the end of their shift. Platoon Chiefs will provide to the Communications Centre Officer a firewatch schedule detailing assigned apparatus and times for the rotations of personnel during firewatch. The Communications Centre Officer is responsible for notifying crews assigned firewatch duties to inform them of their assigned times provided by the Platoon Chief. Once firewatch times have been assigned it is the Company Officer's responsibility to ensure they are on scene at their designated time. NOTE: Contaminated crews should not be held on scene to start a firewatch. Firewatch should be assigned to contamination free crews as soon as possible so to relieve crews at the scene who require decontamination. File Code: G-FIWA Page 1 of 3  STANDARD OPERATING GUIDELINE GUIDELINES 1. Firewatch at Incidents Incident Commanders are responsible for verification of the extinguishment of fire. TFS personnel assigned firewatch responsibility shall: (a) Be always in possession of a radio. (b) Complete a walking inspection of all areas of the premises upon assuming firewatch responsibilities and at thirty (30) minute intervals thereafter. More frequent inspections may be necessary due to conditions and will be the responsibility of the officer on scene. The inspections shall be documented over the radio. (c) Verify the placement of all firefighting and detection related components. (d) Apparatus assigned to firewatch are not permitted to leave the scene until the next scheduled apparatus has arrived on the scene and announced over the air, they have assumed command of the firewatch. (e) Captains of firewatch apparatus will do a face-to-face update on arrival of relief apparatus before transferring command. Any apparatus may be used for firewatch and will be assigned at the discretion of the Platoon Chief. Factors for consideration by Chief Officers when selecting apparatus for firewatch include, but are not limited to the following: (a) Apparatus/equipment requirements (b) Duration of assignment (c) Geographic location (d) Shift call-volume of selected apparatus Where more than two (2) apparatus are maintained at a firewatch a District Chief shall also be assigned. Termination of a TFS fire watch shall be the discretion of the Platoon Chief and shall require the following: (a) A fire watch implemented by the Platoon Chief shall not be terminated earlier than 12 hours from its implementation (24 hours for Cellulose Insulation). (b) A complete search of the area of origin and all other impacted areas of the building (including areas above, below and lateral that may have been impacted by fire with a Thermal Incident Camera (TIC). (c) The arrival of TFS investigators and/or Toronto Police Service at suspicious fires (d) An announcement over the radio of completion of the same. File Code: G-FIWA Page 2 of 3  STANDARD OPERATING GUIDELINE 2. Assigning Firewatch to Building Owners A building owner or other responsible person representing the building owner may be assigned firewatch responsibilities if the alarm system in a high-rise or other building is not operational and an alarm technician has been contacted and is responding. A firewatch in a building shall be conducted in compliance with the Fire Safety Plan approved for the building. For a firewatch, a Fire Safety Plan typically requires a building owner to do the following: (a) Be instructed in the procedures for conducting a firewatch. (b) Be in possession of a two-way radio communicating directly with a communications center or be in possession of a cellular telephone capable of immediately notifying TFS of any hazardous situations. (c) Complete a walking inspection of the premises at sixty (60) minute intervals. (d) Verify the placement of all firefighting and detection related components. Any TFS Incident Commander ordering a firewatch shall obtain from the building owner or a responsible person, in writing, detailed information of the following: (a) Name of the person(s) assuming responsibility for providing the firewatch (b) Address of building (c) Telephone contact numbers The Incident Commander shall notify the TFS Communications Centre over the radio when a firewatch has been appropriately assigned to and assumed by the building owner or responsible person. The TFS Incident Commander shall include in their memo books all relevant information of the firewatch. This information will also be added into the Officer’s Narrative of the Emergency Incident Report. ATTACHMENT(S) N/A RELATED SOGS C-CELL – Cellulose Insulation File Code: G-FIWA Page 3 of 3