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City administration is making plans to improve Edmonton’s infill fire protection assessment program, which should help speed up the pace of developments, according to a new report.
In 2019, city administration developed the program in response to reoccurring questions from Epcor water and applicants about fire hydrant spacing and fire flow deficiency in land development applications. After receiving an assessment request, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services will analyze the fire flow by considering the capacity of the main water network from a fire hydrant and if it is enough for the proposed development. If there is not enough required fire flow, EFRS will either co-ordinate with applicants about possible changes or supports to infrastructure upgrades, depending on which solution is more beneficial.
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Fire flow analysis is currently being done manually by EFRS and city administration hopes to automate the process in the future using geospatial technology which would remove the need for an assessment. EFRS would still review applications during the development permit stage.
“While the improvements made since 2021 have lowered development costs by helping to avoid costly infrastructure upgrades, there is still a lack of transparency with infrastructure capacity and a lack of ability to easily assess the required fire flow of potential developments,” the report said.
“These improvements work to eliminate analysis by EFRS and only require review by Epcor water with respect to firefighting water, if the proposed required fire flow exceeds the available fire flow for an application.”
Sarah Jackson, a spokesperson with EFRS, said the geospatial technology will support and provide information from the available fire flow by land parcel throughout Edmonton, which is the city’s capacity for flowing firefighting water at specific locations. The information can then be compared against the required fire flow of a building — how much water would be required to fight a fire in that building.
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A variety of information is needed about the network of water mains throughout the city to calculate the available fire flow, which is taken from Epcor water’s hydraulic network computer model. While the calculations for the length of firefighting hose needed for specific hydrants and pumping capacity are relatively simple for a single scenario, a geospatial system is best suited to map numerous systems in a cohesive way.
“This is because those systems can perform the numerous calculations required, but also relate the physical/geometric location of components such as hydrants, fire trucks and buildings. They are also perfectly suited to publish information in graphical interfaces — online maps,” Jackson said.
Additional upgrades to the system will include a “required fire flow calculator” available online via the e-services development permit self-serve portal. EFRS has created tools to simplify these calculations in building types which would allow most applicants to verify and investigate how changes in design may impact required fire flow for a proposed development.
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Following the completion of the e-services processes, administration plans to create training materials applicants will need for fire flow aspects of the application process. The report said, once completed, the infill fire protection assessment process will be integrated into the land development application process, which would eliminate potential delays for fire flow assessment by EFRS and Epcor water.
Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson commended the program for its success over the past five years, including removing $200-million worth of infrastructure construction costs to support those developments.
“I’m so excited by this work. It really is incredible. It has come so far and $200 million in deferred costs is a significant value to our whole community,” Stevenson said.
Between July 2019 and 2023, EFRS completed 1,228 assessments. Of them, 1,108 applications met the performance requirements and did not require any modifications to infrastructure.
According to administration, timelines for assessments peaked in 2021 and were on average completed in 95 days. Improvements to technology and the process has now reduced the timeline by 67 per cent, with assessments now being completed in 14 days.
The cost of tools and resources needed for the work on infill fire flow requirements will be covered by the housing accelerator fund. City administration said timelines still in the works are waiting to be finalized.
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