Q: Why does the OFM collect data from the fire services?
A: Under Clauses 9(2)(f) and 9(2)(g) of the FPPA, 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 service. Subsections 11(2) and 11(3) of the FPPA requires all assistants to the Fire Marshal to report on fires and other matters related to fire protection as specified by the Fire Marshal.
Q: Why is it so critical to collect this information?
A: The information 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, they are used to identify the need for code changes, and are useful in evaluating the success of our programs and legislation.
Municipal fire departments also make use of this information. Fire loss data is used to identify the fire risks that are unique to a given community, in identifying the need for future resources and reporting on performance.
Q: Where can I obtain additional copies of forms, manuals, Standard Codes Lists, envelopes, etc.?
A: As with the case of other OFM publications, additional copies may be obtained from the Regional Offices. The manual is now on this web site along with the standard code list and the Standard Incident and Casualty Reporting Explanatory Guide. (http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/english/Publications/SIR/default.asp ).
Q: How can I get OFM Provincial and municipal reports on this information?
A: Selected provincial research and reports are on the OFM Website. http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/english/Publications/Statistics/
The OFM has a unit which processes the data and provides reports upon request. We respond to calls by the next business day, and can provide reports promptly by e-mail, fax or mail.
Call (416) 325-3100, and ask for Statistical Services.
Q: Our department would like to file the Incident reports electronically. How can we do this?
A: Over 70% of incident reports are filed electronically. Many fire
departments have been filing electronically with the OFM since 1995. As there
are many different computer systems, OFM has developed a set of standards for
filing electronically. These standards are fairly simple, but usually require
some programming on the part of fire departments. Contact Alison Wilson at
alison.wilson@jus.gov.on.ca
for more details on these specifications.
The OFM provides the option of filing Standard Incident Reports by Internet
connection, so that smaller fire departments may file this way without
developing
special programs. Contact Janis Walton at
Janis.Walton@jus.gov.on.ca
for more
information.
Q: How long should a fire department retain its copy of a Standard Incident report?
A: The OFM enters hardcopy of Standard Incident Reports into the computer
and
retains these electronic records permanently.
Hard copy of non fire incident reports are entered but not retained.
Hard copy of fire incident reports are retained for two years.
Your municipality may have retention schedules that differ from the OFMs, and
the data is both municipal and provincial, so the fire department must follow
municipal retention schedules. For OFM review and revision, please retain
incident reports for two years. Also, please make sure that the OFM has
received records before shredding.
Q: How is a fire – code 01 and an explosion – code 02 defined?
A: For the purposes of Incident reporting Fire/Explosion is defined as:
Any instance of destructive and uncontrolled burning including explosion, of
combustible solids, liquids or gases.
- “Uncontrolled” means persons and/or property are endangered by the burning
- “Burning” means the process of self-perpetuating combustion, with or without an open flame. This definition includes smoldering.
- “Explosion” means violent bursting caused by the ignition/burning of a combustible gas, a combustible dust, or a flammable vapour mixture.
- Explosion of munitions or other detonating material
- Explosion/rupture of vessels due to internal overpressure
- Lightning or electrical discharge
- Overheat conditions
Q: When is a fire classified as “ 23 Unauthorized controlled burning” or “36 Authorized controlled burning -complaint” or as “01 Fire”?
A: The key difference between a 23 and 36 and a FIRE 01 is whether the fire is “controlled” . If persons/property are not endangered and the fire department does NOT HAVE TO INTERVENE to control the fire, and then it can be classed as 23 – Unauthorized controlled burning or 36 Authorized controlled burning – complaint – depending on the nature of the call. If the fire endangered persons or property or fire department takes action to extinguish the fire, it should be classed as 01 – Fire, whether there is a dollar loss or not.
Q: How is an “incident” defined?
A: An incident is defined as any occurrence that the fire department responds to. An incident can be a fire or non fire call, and generally an incident requires one Incident report.
An exposure fire is an exceptional circumstance – it is defined as a separate incident requiring a separate report. An exposure fire is defined as a fire in a building, structure, or vehicle that occurs as a direct consequence of another fire that originated in a completely detached, segregated building, structure, vehicle, or outside open area. (For vehicle fires involving multiple vehicles see the question on vehicle fire reporting).
Q: How is an “exposure fire” reported? How do I code area of origin, object first ignited, cause for an exposure fire, for example a fire started in a garage and the neighbour’s house was the exposure fire.
A: When recording exposure fires, separate reports are required for the originating fire and each exposure fire. The incident identifiers (location and time of incident) of each related exposure fire must be IDENTICAL to that of the originating fire. However, each fire is to be treated as a separate incident and the information recorded on each report must be unique to the fire in question and each exposure incident must be coded as exposure (code 89) in IGNITING SOURCE.
In the example, the initial fire would be reported in one incident report,
and the
exposure fire in a separate report with
Ignition source 89 exposure fire
Fuel of Ignition source 99 not applicable
Area of origin – 61 exterior wall – code the part of the exposure property
where
the fire started
Object first ignited – 12 building component exterior cladding – code the
object
ignited in the exposure property
Cause – 67 – other.
Q: A fire spreads between two units in one structure (including semi-detached residence, townhouse, rowhouse, business units in a single structure, etc.) - is this an exposure fire? How is this dollar loss documented?
A: This is not an exposure fire, the two units are considered a single fire in one structure - similar to fires that spread between two apartment units. File a single report and include the total estimated loss for all units.
Q: In the case where a fire occurs but does not result in any monetary damage, does this require the entire completion of a Standard Incident Report?
A: Yes, it is very important to complete all required sections of the SIR for all fire incidents. Be sure to enter "0" for the dollar loss estimate.
Q: If we respond to a car fire or any other type
(wastebasket of fire) which is already out upon our arrival, do we record it
as an 01(fire) or not?
Also if we respond to a check call where a resident says that had a fire
occurred earlier in the day, is now out but just wants us to come and check it
out, is that an 01?
A: These are fire calls. There may be injuries or damages that should be reported. The Occurrence Reporting Manual notes in section 1.2:
a) "As a result, even if a fire department is notified of such an incident after it has already occurred, the occurrence is still recorded."
Q: We responded to a kitchen fire, when we arrived the kitchen cupboards self-extinguished but were left charred and the kitchen walls were blackened. Is this recorded as an 01(fire) or a 22(pot on stove)?
A: Pot on stove is under PRE FIRE conditions. The manual describes overheat
condition as "The alteration of material by heat without self-sustained
combustion. Removal of the heat source will stop the alteration process. It
might
also be described As the stage before ignition." The pot on the stove is
steaming, or smoking, but no fire has developed prior to the arrival of the
department. Their actions stop the fire from starting, or they find smoke
only, no evidence of fire.
In this example, there is evidence of a fire and damages. It should be
reported as a fire incident.
Q: Why does the OFM Incident report have a code for Location and a code for Fire Department? What do these codes mean?
The codes for municipalities are based on the Statistics Canada census subdivision codes. They have been in use since 1983, and permit OFM to report information historically for each municipality and to match with data collected by Statistics Canada and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
On the Standard Incident Report form the location is the first 4 digit box. The code for the municipality in which the incident address is located goes under location.
The Fire department ID is the same as the fire department’s municipality code.
On the Standard Incident Report, the fire department identifier is reported under FD Identification, a 4 digit box after Alarm Time. The code for the responding fire department should be in this area.
If the Fire Department is providing assistance/service in another
municipality, the
location code (municipality where incident occurred) will be different from
the
fire department identification code (fire department responding to the
incident).
Note: The municipality designated to respond to the fire should file the
Standard
Incident report. An assisting fire department from another municipality may
file a
report coded 91:Assistance to other fire department.
In mutual aid agreements the responding fire department should file the report.
The key point is: Only one fire report should be filed
for each fire incident.
(An exposure fire where another completely separate structure is ignited is
defined as a separate incident. See the question and answer Exposure
fire reporting.)
Q: In an amalgamated fire department where more than one of the formerly separate fire departments responds to a call how is an incident report filed?
A: Over the past number of years amalgamation has “joined” many fire departments into new ones under a new amalgamated municipality. The way incident reports are filed does not change – one incident report per incident. The only exception to this rule is where a fire department from another municipality “assists” – and an incident report is filed by the other fire department using the code 91 for assistance in the response type.
The fire department ID is the OFM number assigned to their municipality. Where there are several separate fire departments in an amalgamated municipality or where are fire department would like to report station level response to an incident, a code up to two digits (alphabetical or numeric) may be put into the 2 digit code boxes under S. AREA on the Standard Incident Report. The OFM can then provide call listings broken down by these areas.
However, only one incident report can be filed by a municipality for one incident, so if multiple divisions are responding to an incident only one can be identified using the sub area boxes. The total number of personnel on the scene should include all fire personnel attending from all divisions attending.
Q: When do I complete a Casualty Report?
A: When the fire department responds to a fire/explosion call, any fire related injuries or deaths (civilians or fire fighters) should be reported. The total number of injuries or fatalities should be included on the Standard Incident Report and one casualty report completed for each person injured.
The exception to this is vehicle collisions resulting in fires.
For vehicle collisions resulting in fires and for non fire responses:
Please note: The Casualty Name and Address is not required by the Office of the Fire Marshal, although you may want to record it for your own records.
Q: What if a person is injured by fire due to the motor vehicle collision?
A: Civilian injuries in a vehicle collision resulting in fire are not reported. Fire Fighter injuries in a vehicle collision should be reported.
Q: How do I report a fire fighter injury that occurred while the fire fighter was on duty, but not out on a call?
A: When a fire fighter is injured on duty, but not on a call, fill out a Standard Incident Report using the code 95 (Authorized F.D. Activity) in the Response Type box and the date and time. Then complete an accompanying Casualty Report with the details of the injury.
If your department has an automatic system that does not permit you to create an Incident Report where there was not a call, please use a paper Casualty Report and indicate in Remarks that this was a non-call, on duty injury and send the Service. Write "95" clearly at the top of the Casualty report, and when it is input we will create an Incident report.
Q: How do I report a fire death? What if there is a fatality at the scene and it cannot be determined whether it is a fire death until an autopsy is done?
A: Fire fatalities are investigated by the Office of the Fire Marshal. Procedures for requesting an investigation should be followed.
Also, it is very important to file an Incident report, and to file a fatality report. The information in both reports is deemed to be preliminary, and when final results are provided by the OFM Investigator the data is revised.
The OFM defines a fire death as:
A person who dies as a result of injuries sustained during a fire incident.
- Injuries directly resulting from fire (e.g. burns, asphyxia, etc.)
- Secondary complications arising from fire injuries (e.g. pulmonary edema, pneumonia, etc.) Injuries sustained while involved in fire control, a rescue attempt or escaping the dangers of a fire
- Injuries sustained as a result of destruction caused by fire (e.g. roof collapse, projectiles, etc.)
Injuries sustained on route to or returning from a fire scene Heart attack or stroke suffered while involved in fighting a fire
Include suicides by fire Include homicides by fire (i.e. arson fires that result in deaths) Exclude people that die by fire resulting from vehicle accidents Exclude fire deaths occurring on Indian Reserves, Federal property, Department of National Defense property and Ministry of Natural Resources land unless the fire department has jurisdiction through agreement. Fire deaths on these properties are tracked and reported by the respective agency having jurisdiction.
Response Type
Q: In the response type codes the pick list for medical type response includes terms that requires firefighters to make a diagnosis – something which is not legally allowed. I believe a symptom based pick list would be appropriate. Also, “resuscitator call” is an antiquated term.
Q: Under medical calls we respond for “chest pains” most of the time we nor the paramedics determine it to be a “heart attack”. Would it be appropriate to have a code in the medical resuscitator code list that reflect “chest pains”?
Comments as well as questions are received by the OFM and assist in bringing about change to codes that were taken from the NFPA code structure and introduced in 1995. The intent of these response types are to collect information on the basic type of response required in the incident, and the medical codes do not meet that criteria. When the codes are reviewed, this comment will be raised.
An acceptable alternative to using the specific medical codes would be to use Other medical/resuscitator for all calls in this category to avoid having to speculate on the medical condition.
Q: There has been questions regarding the Standard Code list and the response types 21 overheat and 22 pot on stove. The question is are these response types or should they be cause codes? Couldn't they be classed under "false fire calls"?
A: Overheat, Pot on Stove are under pre-fire conditions. The incident does not meet the Fire definition. While they could be classed as a “false fire call”, we are collecting these calls separately because they are potential fire incidents.
Fires starting in a pot on stove are reported under one of the causes codes under misuse of ignition source: 32- unattended, 33- used too close to combustibles, etc. The ignition source is coded as stove, and the object first ignited code - often cooking oil, gives a complete picture of the fire, so “pot on stove” is not required as a cause code.
Q: When overhaul or fire watch is required after the emergency, is this reported?
A: If the action is part of the initial incident, it does not require a separate incident report, but if the crew is returning to the scene at a later time it could be reported as a non fire call – 99 Other. Definitely if action is required (e.g. the fire reignites) then it would be a new Incident report 01 – fire with ignition source 97 – rekindle.
Q: We responded to a house fire which completely destroyed a home (House # 1). The house next door (House #2) did not catch fire, however I have “heard” that it was damaged from the initial house fire. The insurance company for house #2 has apparently requested a fire report. Do we complete a second report for House #2? If so, is this an exposure fire? There was no actual fire, just heat damage.
A: Filing one Standard Incident Report for House # 1 was appropriate based on the OFM definitions and requirements and the response of the fire department.
Responding Personnel
Q: What should be reported on the Standard Incident Report under Responding Personnel?
The Occurrence Reporting Manual request fire departments Report:
the total number of persons at the scene excluding
fire prevention officers, investigators, back up crew, clean up crew and
"anyone else who appears on the scene after the emergency has been resolved".
Report the total personnel who arrive on the scene and respond to resolve the emergency.
Address
Q: Is an address only required in SECTION D for property fires. Is it necessary for any other types of incidents? In other words is the property address actually part of SECTION D?
The OFM does not record addresses for non fire incidents, however your fire department may require these addresses.
Injuries
Q: If it is a non fire call, do we report the number of injuries or deaths in the incident?
Only report the number of injuries or fatalities for:
There must be a casualty report for every injury reported. The OFM “counts” the casualty reports to determine the actual number of injuries to ensure consistency in reporting.
Rescues
Q: We know that you do not record the # of injuries or deaths to civilians unless due to fire. Does this still apply to Rescues as well? Can we record the rescues from climbing incident or persons trapped in elevators, etcetera?
A: All rescues for all response types are to reported (excluding personnel evacuated for precautionary measures).
A rescued person is one who:
a) is in danger of injury or death because of his/her proximity to the occurrence and is rescued as the result of direct actions of a firefighter or under the direct supervision or control of a firefighter, or
b) is trapped or confined as a result of the occurrence and firefighter action is necessary for his/her release.
BBQ fire
Q: If we have a Propane BBQ fire, what do we classify it as? If the BBQ is on fire and subsequently lights up the house, is the house then exposure? Is the property classification the BBQ or the residence?
A: If the barbeque is in the back yard:
the property classification is 861 - open land, the area of origin
is 71 open area, ignition source, barbeque
A resulting house fire is recorded as a separate incident:
residential (301 to 303), ignition source 89 exposure,
area of origin 71 outside area....
Dumpster property type
Q: If we have a dumpster fire in a parking lot of a supermarket. Is the property classification "848 (Trash/Rubbish Container)" or do we classify the property of the address where this occurred. (example "520"supermarket). Does it matter if the dumpster is outside of the building or attached/not attached to the building?
A: If the container is outside the building, for example, in the
parking lot then code the property type as 848 Trash/Rubbish
container.
If the container is inside the building (even in an attached
garage) then the property type is determined by the structure
and the area of origin will be 44-trash/rubbish storage... or 42-
garage or 70- other structural area
Vehicle fire
Q: When a vehicle fire occurs following a motor vehicle collision. is it a 01 fire or a 62 Vehicle accident?
A: If there is a fire - it is an 01 - there are codes for vehicle collision in cause and ignition source.
Q: How do I code property class when a vehicle fire occurs inside a structure (e.g. parking garage, detached garage, car wash, etc.)?
A: Where a vehicle fire occurs within a structure, the vehicle is
considered to be building content. Code this as a structural fire using the
property class code that corresponds with the structure type, and classify the
vehicle as the object or material to first ignite.
Only if the vehicle fire occurs outside of a structure is it coded in the
“900” series of property codes.
Q: When the fire department responds to a call where there are a number of cars on fire in a vehicle fire incident how do I report this?
A: When a number of vehicles are involved in a single fire incident, file
only one Standard Incident Report.
Property class codes have been created to
accommodate this situation:
Road Vehicles: 909 Multiple road vehicles
Rail Vehicles: 914 Multiple rail vehicles
Watercraft: 924 Multiple watercraft
Aircraft: 934 Multiple aircraft
Misc/Specialty: 944 Multiple Specialty Vehicles
Other: 994 Multiple vehicles – combination of types
For the estimated loss, estimate the losses resulting from fire for all vehicles damaged in the incident and put this total in the estimated loss.
Complete sections A,B and C and the address for vehicle fires/explosions, and do not complete Section D.
Controlled burning
Q: When is a fire classified as “ 23 Unauthorized controlled burning” or “36 Authorized controlled burning - complaint” or as “01 Fire”?
A: The key difference between a 23 and 36 and a FIRE 01 is whether the fire is “controlled” . If the Fire department does NOT HAVE TO INTERVENE to control the fire, then it can be classed as 23 – Unauthorized controlled burning or 36 Authorized controlled burning – complaint – depending on the nature of the call. If the fire department takes action to extinguish the fire it should be classed as 01 – Fire, whether there is a dollar loss or not.
Alarm time
Q: Does alarm time begin when the fire department picks up the phone to receive the message or when it puts down the phone having heard the message?
A: Alarm time begins when the fire department picks up the phone to receive
the message. We realize that 911 calls are forwarded to fire departments from
911 dispatch centres. Ideally, we would start clocking the time when the 911
centre picks up the phone, but this information will not likely be collected
by all fire departments. For the purposes of consistency, we have decided to
start alarm time when the fire department first picks up the call.
(Hour is reported on the 24 hour clock.)
Time on Scene
Q: What is the definition of Time on Scene?
A: This is the time the first unit arrives at the scene.
When a call is cancelled on route - you may use the new code for this call
96 - call cancelled on route, the Time on Scene may
be left blank. (Hour is reported on the 24 hour clock.)
Undetermined
Q: What code do I use for “Undetermined”?
A: On the Standard Incident Report the code for Undetermined is “98” for
most fields.
Two important exceptions are:
Possible cause: the code for Undetermined is “68” Ignition
source: “99” (“98” is used for Other ignition source)
Where the status is unknown for Alarm/Detection/Suppression reporting, it is very important to use the “98” code for Undetermined in the device, location, operation, and reason for inoperation boxes. If it is left blank, it will be recorded as "not reported". Two key areas where there is no code for Undetermined are Response Type, Alarm to Fire Department, and Property Type.
Animal rescue
Q: What code do I use for an animal rescue?
A: Use code “94” – Other Public
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