Services and Responsibilities

City of Salmon Arm Duties

It is the Fire Department's responsibility to enforce regulations and legislation including the BC Fire Code, local municipal bylaws such as open burning and the BC Building Code in areas of emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, fire alarm systems, etc.

Staff investigates and monitors all fire code violations and review fire alarm, emergency lighting and sprinkler system reports to ensure Code compliance.

Inspections

The Fire Department completes approximately 850 fire safety inspections annually to public buildings within the community, as required by the Provincial Fire Service Act. These inspections give the department an opportunity to work with local business owners in meeting Fire Code requirements.

The Fire Department also works closely with the City Building Department reviewing building plans for all new commercial buildings from a fire safety perspective.

Pre-Incident Planning and Investigations

Fire investigations are performed to identify trends and causes and to assist in prevention measures in the future. Fire investigations also help to identify those who deliberately set fires and to collect evidence.

Pre-incident plans are created for new and existing commercial buildings to assist responding fire crews with information about buildings and their hazards.

Prevention Division

The prevention division makes use of Fire Data Management (FDM) software to track and follow up on inspection deficiencies. This has proven to be a very valuable tool for inspection reporting as well as records management including training, personnel and incidents.