Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

To support the introduction of performance-based building regulations in Canada in the year 2001, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is developing a computer fire risk cost assessment model that can be used to assess both the expected risk to life to the occupants and the expected costs of fire protection and fire losses in a building. The computer model that is being developed at NRC is called FiRECAMTM (Fire Risk evaluation and Cost Assessment Model). This paper provides a description of the modeling concepts of FiRECAMTM and the results of its application to a six-storey Canadian federal government office building where the existing fire protection systems were being re-evaluated to see how they could be upgraded to meet the current building code requirements. The project was a collaboration between NRC and Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) which owns the building. The objective was to determine whether all the required upgrades were necessary. The results showed that one of the required upgrades, closing the stair vents, was not necessary, meaning a saving of $37,000 (Canadian).