Fire Watch

In the event that a required fire alarm/sprinkler system is determined to be not in proper working order for more than four (4) hours in a twenty-four (24) hour period or is not installed, the following actions shall be taken by the facility or the building shall be vacated:

1. Notify the State Fire Marshal, the West Jackson Fire Department and all facility personnel, in writing and by telephone, that the fire alarm/sprinkler system is not operational. The phone numbers are:
State Fire Marshal: (404) 657-1168
West Jackson Fire Department: (706) 654-2500

2. Establish a temporary fire watch by individuals who are dedicated solely to fire watch duty. It shall be the responsibility of management to ensure that fire watch personnel are capable of performing all functions of a fire watch as defined in this document.

3. Provide fire watch personnel with a means of identifying themselves as authorized representatives of the facility.

4. Each route to be covered by fire watch personnel shall be designated by the facility.

5. The route shall be explicitly defined to ensure that the fire watch personnel patrols the correct area.

6. The fire watch personnel assigned to each route shall be provided with instructions, all details regarding the route, and the functions to be carried out in covering the route.

7. Fire watch personnel shall make rounds at one (1) hour intervals. When operations in the property normally are suspended, officers shall make rounds hourly. During the rounds, the fire watch personnel shall make a thorough inspection of all buildings or spaces including concealed areas, such as attics, unoccupied storage areas, etc. Fire watch personnel shall sign a log sheet maintained in the facility main office or other location approved by this office. Log sheet shall state begin time and end time of each individual round and the name (printed) and the initials of the personnel.

8. Procedures shall be established for orderly conduct of the operations at the property, including procedures for fire loss prevention both by employees of the property protected and by outside contractors, and the prompt reporting of any fires discovered by calling the public fire department and the fire brigade.

9. Each facility shall establish programs for fire watch personnel to ensure they are familiar with the property being protected, including:
(a) All buildings, occupancies, and hazards.
(b) Fixed fire protection systems.
(c) Manual and automatic detection and alarm systems.
(d) Portable fire protection equipment.
(e) Emergency shutdown procedures and equipment for which they are responsible.
(f) The facility emergency action plan.
(g) Emergency power generator systems

10. Each facility shall ensure that fire watch personnel are familiar with the site specific emergency plans for dealing with fires and other emergencies.

11. Each facility shall ensure that fire watch personnel are familiar with the procedures to follow in the recognition and reporting of an emergency, including:
(a) When and how to use radio equipment, telephone, and private or public alarm boxes to summon aid.
(b) How to notify the fire brigade, the municipal fire department, and other emergency response organizations.
(c) The personnel to be contacted.

12. Fire watch personnel shall be provided with a means for continuous communication (i.e., two-way radio; walkie-talkies; etc.) with a constantly attended location such as the administrative office where a public address announcement can be made throughout all buildings in the event of an emergency. Buildings or areas of the building without public address systems, there shall be a sufficient number of fire watch personnel to initiate evacuation procedures throughout the building in an orderly manner.

13. Each facility manager/administrator shall ensure that:
(a) Fire watch personnel are not permitted to change the time record charts.
(b) The changing and review of time record charts is done by the manager/administrator or the manager/administrator’s responsible
designee.
(c) Time record charts of fire watch personnel are promptly reviewed.
(d) Files are maintained for review by representatives of any authority having jurisdiction.
(e) All irregularities are investigated, recorded, and corrective action is taken.

14. A continuously updated directory of names, telephone numbers, and other information to assist in making emergency calls shall be kept at the facilities administrative office. This directory shall include the telephone numbers of key facility personnel to be notified in an emergency, fire, police and emergency medical service departments, and other outside agencies needed in an emergency.

15. The Owner is responsible to cancel the fire watch once the fire protection system has been fully restored. Once the fire watch has been cancelled, the owner or representative must notify the monitoring company and the West Jackson Fire Department.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE DURATION OF THE TEMPORARY FIRE WATCH WILL BE DETERMINED ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.

Fire detection, suppression or alarm systems that must be temporarily disabled during renovation work:
Fire Alarms
Prefer to 2000 NFPA 101: 9.6.1.8* “Where a required fire alarm system is out of service for more than 4 hours in a 24-hour period, the authority having jurisdiction shall be notified, and the building shall be evacuated or an approved fire watch shall be provided
for all parties left unprotected by the shutdown until the fire alarm system has been returned to service.”

A.9.6.1.8 “A fire watch should at least involve some special action beyond normal staffing, such as assigning an additional security guard(s) to walk the areas affected. These individuals should be specially trained in fire prevention and in occupant and fire department notification techniques, and they should understand the particular fire safety situation for public education purposes. (Also see NFPA 601, Standard for Security Services in Fire Loss Prevention.)”

 

From the Life Safety Code Handbook “when developing a plan to address shutdown, it is important to consider the nature of the shutdown, the location, the increased hazards that are involved and the necessary hazards to mitigate the hazards. The authority
having jurisdiction should be involved in the development of these plans.

Fire Sprinklers

The same language applies for sprinkler system shutdown in 101: 9.7.6. Impairment procedures shall comply with NFPA 25, Chapter 14.
NFPA 101: 9.7.6.1 Where a required automatic sprinkler system is out of service for more than 4 hours in a 24-hour period, the authority having jurisdiction shall be notified, and the building shall be evacuated or an approved fire watch shall be provided for all parties left unprotected by the shutdown until the sprinkler system has been returned to service.

 

NFPA 101: 9.7.6.2 Sprinkler impairment procedures shall comply with NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems.

NFPA 101: 9.7.7 Documentation. All required documentation regarding the design of the fire protection system and the procedures for maintenance, inspection, and testing of the fire protection system shall be maintained at an approved, secured location for the life of the fire protection system.

NFPA 101: 9.7.8 Record Keeping. Testing and maintenance records required by NFPA 25, shall be maintained at an approved, secured location.

 

See 120-3-3 Rules and Regulations of the Safety Fire Commissioner, amendment to NFPA 25: 4.3.1 Records of inspections, tests, and maintenance of the system(s) and its components shall be made available to the authority having jurisdiction by the following methods:

“(1) Maintained on site for review by the authority having jurisdiction for a minimum of a three year period.

“(2) On non-compliant or impaired systems a copy of the inspection report shall be forwarded to the authority having jurisdiction by the owner and/or the occupant.

 

See also amendment to NFPA 25: 4.3.6.3 Impairment Tag (Red) “(g) A letter of emergency impairment conditions shall be sent to the building owner or authorized representative and to the occupant within 24 hours of the time of the inspection. The building owner and/or occupant shall notify the authority having jurisdiction within 24 hours of the time of the impairment notification.”