TOPIC: STANDARD INCIDENT REPORT (SIR) FILING
This Fire Marshal's Directive supersedes Fire Marshal's Directive 04-001: Under Clauses 9(2)(f) and 9(2)(g) of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, it is a duty of the Fire Marshal to keep a record of all fires reported, to develop and maintain statistical records, and to conduct studies in respect of fire protection services. Subsections 11(2) and 11(3) requires all assistants to the Fire Marshal to report on fires and other matters related to fire protection as specified by the Fire Marshal.
The information collected by the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) on fire incidents and other fire department calls is vital for the purpose of identifying fire safety issues that affect Ontario residents. Results of our statistical analyses help to shape the content of fire safety programs, are used to identify the need for fire code changes, and evaluate the success of our programs and legislation. Incident information is also an essential input to the Performance Measures and Benchmarking System that reports performance measurement data on a quarterly basis.
Information is required from all fire departments for every response made by a fire department as defined under the FPPA. Full procedures and details on the information required are defined in the Standard Incident and Casualty Report forms and the Occurrence Reporting Manual, available at www.ofm.ca under Standard Incident Reporting & Statistics.
Under the authority of the FPPA, I am directing all fire departments to file all incident reports quarterly no later than the end of the month following the quarter. Beginning January 1, 2009, reports may be filed either by e-mail in a file format as defined by OFM or using the Internet application system developed by OFM. For information on electronic file formats and Internet filing contact the OFM at: OFMStatistics@Ontario.ca.
To ensure the accuracy of incident reporting information, the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) will provide a year-end incident report to all fire departments for verification. Fire departments are expected to review the report for accuracy and provide the OFM with revisions by the end of the first quarter following the year of filing. It is the responsibility of the fire department to verify that the yearly information provided by the OFM accurately reflects the incidence of fires and other emergency calls even in the rare case where a fire department has had no calls to report.
In the case where a fire department cannot meet the quarterly filing requirement, e.g. the computer dispatch system cannot deliver the required incident information electronically, the fire department must negotiate a mutually acceptable filing alternative or schedule with the Assistant Deputy Fire Marshal of Fire Protection Services.
You should forward your submission to the Assistant Deputy Fire Marshal through your local Fire Protection Adviser.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours truly,
Patrick R. Burke
Fire Marshal of Ontario
July 22, 2008
|
||||||||||||||||||
