According to the International Fire Code, a fire watch is a temporary measure intended to ensure continuous and systematic surveillance of a building or portion thereof by one or more qualified individuals for the purposes of identifying and controlling fire hazards, detecting early signs of unwanted fire, raising an alarm of fire and notifying the fire department.
In the event that an occupancy has a fire alarm system or fire sprinkler system that is malfunctioning, impaired or otherwise out of service so that no automatic notification and/or fire suppression will occur in the event of a fire, the occupancy will be placed under a Fire Watch Order.
It is the responsibility of the occupancy to provide staff or personnel to conduct the fire watch. If fire watch personnel cannot be provided, the facility shall be closed and evacuated until such time as the fire alarm and/or fire sprinkler system can be restored and placed back in service. **It is important to note that during periods that the facility is unoccupied and fire watch personnel are not provided, automatic notification of a fire and/or automatic suppression of a fire may not occur due to fire alarm or fire sprinkler system impairments.
Instructions for conducting a fire watch are included on the Fire Watch Order and should be followed for the duration that the occupancy is under a Fire Watch Order until the occupancy has been released from the Order by the Fire Marshal or his designee.
A walk through of the facility shall be conducted at a minimum of every 30 minutes and a written log shall be maintained. BWFR has provided a standardized form log for use to document these activities at the bottom of this page or by clicking HERE.
For further assistance with a Fire Watch Order, please contact the BWFR Life Safety Division.