Friday, September 27, 2024 
Friday, September 27, 2024
January 31, 2020
A group of Alberta firefighters is calling on the province to rethink a decision to allow for the construction of wood buildings up to 12 storeys tall.
On Friday, the province announced it will allow construction of 12-storey buildings using fire-resistant wood material beginning this spring. Right now, Alberta building codes only allow wood buildings to be constructed up to six storeys high.
The president of the Alberta Fire Fighters Association said the group has safety concerns surrounding the high-rise buildings, including fire hazards while they’re being built. He said wood-frame buildings are most vulnerable when they’re under construction, before the safety systems have been installed.
The group urges the province to hit pause on the approval at least until a review of the National Building Code is completed at the end of 2020.
“Adequate staffing and resources need to be in place in order to fight fires in such occurrences and we feel that most cities and municipalities in the province would not have the capability of dealing with such a large structure,” Brad Readman said.
Readman believes municipalities should be required to obtain permits to construct 12-storey wood buildings, and that permits only be issued to those that have been through specialized training and have specific emergency response plans in place.
“There is no need to rush high-rise, wood-frame construction in Alberta. We need to ensure that emergency planning for the three stages of life of these building have been addressed — construction, occupancy, and potential emergency phases should be looked at with fire protection in mind,” Readman said.
“It’s what the people of Alberta and the province’s firefighters expect and deserve.”
The province said building codes will require tall wood buildings to be built as encapsulated mass timber construction, where the solid or engineered wood has been surrounded by fire-resistive material.
Keep reading and watch the video on Global News
Deadline for this week in Friday at noon
Join Construction Links Network
