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Message from the CEO November 2007 A Change in Seasons Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. The change of season brings cooler days, lots of color, and big gray clouds that suggest it’s time to hunker down for a while. Hunkering down might be fine for the weather, but it’s the furthest thing from our minds at Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc. these days as we prepare for two very big changes on the horizon over the next few months: The first relates to the long awaited publication of a new Ontario Fire Code (OFC) which came into effect on November 21st. As many in the fire services and alarm industry know, we have been advocating changes to fire and building codes for a number of years now to recognize the new response technologies on the market which can reduce response time and enhance public and first responder safety. We began this campaign shortly after a study performed in 2000 in two cities (Mississauga and Ottawa) demonstrated that electronic re-transmission of a fire alarm signal directly to the fire department CAD system (and more specifically, using The key change in the Ontario Fire Code we are focusing on is the addition of clause (b) in Division B, Section 6.3.1.2 - Monitoring. Clause (b) inserts a new requirement that for central station monitoring of a “coded” facility, the monitoring service must comply with either NFPA 71 (an older standard, originally published in 1989 and a requirement in the previous version of the OFC) or a new Made-in-Canada standard: CAN/ULC-S561, “Installation and Services for Fire Signal Receiving Centres and Systems”. As a result, operators of central stations will now have an additional option, when requested, to demonstrate that the monitoring of a facility is up to Code. A ULC certificate can be helpful to the efforts of fire prevention officers: posting a ULC certificate on a commercial or coded building site demonstrating compliance with “S-561” provides all the necessary evidence that the new OFC rules are being met. The ULC certificate effectively puts additional “eyes and ears” out on the street in support of the important work which Fire Prevention Officers do on a daily basis, and raises the bar for public safety at the same time. It is puzzling, however, as to why the reference to NFPA 71 remains in the Ontario Fire Code. We all know the good work that NFPA has done in the past, but NFPA 71 has effectively dropped off the radar screen: the standard isn’t even mentioned on the NFPA’s web site any longer, and there is no official documentation from NFPA that would enable a user to demonstrate (by way of a certificate, for example) compliance with the standard. At a minimum, retaining NFPA 71 sends a mixed message in terms of whether the intent of this Code change as it pertains to monitoring was really to “raise the bar” or not. The second reason that we won’t be hunkering down any time soon with the chillier weather is because in September, our company acquired TMF Security of Markham, Ontario. With the addition of TMF, we have become a full-service security solution provider, meaning that we now can offer design and installation of fire monitoring systems, intrusion, access control, CCTV and integrated building systems. TMF brings with them knowledge and experience in being a high-end integrated systems provider, specializing in commercial and multi-residential properties. Mark Fairley, our colleague in the industry for many years and a former owner of TMF Security, will join FMC as Vice President of Training and Education. We welcome Mark and other staff members from TMF aboard. Whether it’s a change in the weather or in the business environment, we will continue our push for the adoption of the latest codes and technologies that enhance public safety and represent best business practices. All of us at FMC look forward to a continued partnership with AHJ’s in pursuit of these goals. Jim Asselstine |