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Under the OBC, only buildings regulated by Part 3 are required to be provided with an adequate water supply for firefighting. An option to avoid providing such a water supply is to subdivide a large building up to three storeys high by firewalls into smaller sections, each of which is not more than 600 m2 in building area, provided the building does not contain an assembly, institutional or high hazard industrial major occupancy.
For a building regulated under Part 3 of the OBC, Sentence 3.2.5.8.(1) requires an adequate water supply be provided. Therefore, failing to provide an adequate water supply could be reason not to issue a building permit.
Presently, no specifics are given as to what is considered "adequate" under Sentence 3.2.5.8.(1). Therefore, it would be up to the authority having jurisdiction to make the judgement. It is the Branch's opinion that it is appropriate for an authority under the circumstance to accept fire protection guidelines, such as the fire protection water supply guideline of the Office of the Fire Marshal and NFPA 1231. However, it must be ensured that the requirements to be applied do not conflict with any specific provisions in the OBC (Article 2.6.2.1.of the OBC).
Date: June 30, 1995
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