Give the Fire Marshal the tools to work with

Another scathing report from the Auditor General about the work of the office of the Nova Scotia Fire Marshal. And my guess is that they know there are areas that need improvement, but they also aren't likely to say why they can't fill their mandate. And it comes down to oversight and resources.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The Office of the Fire Marshal isresponsible for fire building safety. The office
develops policies, regulations and programs topromote and enforce the principles and practices of
fire safety. They also provide adviceon all initiatives and issues concerning building and
fire safety, or at least that'stheir mandate. That's a direct quote from
the Nova Scotia government website. Thisweek, Nova Scotia's Auditor General said quote

(00:21):
the Office of the Fire Marshal's failureto manage fire and building safety is putting
the public at risk. Despite repeatedwarnings from the Auditor General. The assessment
by Auditor Kim Adair is even morepointed. She says they're responsible for fire
safety inspections of provincially owned and licensedbuildings, hospital, schools, public housing,
long term care homes, as wellas new construction and renovation, building

(00:44):
plan reviews and fire investigations with fatalities. And she says her department looked at
the buildings housing the most vulnerable novascousionsand they're audit found forty percent were completed
late. As they say, theFire Marshal's office is not following inspection policy,
does not have a complete listing ofbuildings requiring inspections and management at the
Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing isfailing to oversee and a monitor compliance and

(01:07):
the Fire Safety Act. And thisis not the first time, you should
points out, it's the third timesince two thousand and one the AGS found
the office was failing to effectively managefire building safety. At twenty eleven audit
found the Office of the Fire Marshalwas not doing an adequate job protecting the
public from fire safety risks in buildingsand that management was not performing appropriate oversight
of operations. All seven other recommendationsthis time were accepted and they've agreed to

(01:33):
put them in place as soon aspossible. But this isn't totally unknown to
the people in that office. Backin two thousand and nine, in a
news release to the Fire Services Associationin Nova Scotia, Fire Marshal's office pointed
out there was no office for them. They are attached to another government department,
which is still the case, andthey've been shuffled between portfolios over the
years without any clear direction or directoversight. They also mentioned no authority exists

(01:57):
to ensure safe and effective fire anemergency services are being provided to Nova Scotians,
and that there are very few enforceablestandards. Now. None of this
takes away from the very serious messagefrom the Auditor's Office, and thankfully modern
building codes and practices seem to behelping reduce the numbers of fires in large
commercial or public facilities. It's hardto know whether that's a combination of luck

(02:19):
and planning, giving the serious andongoing concerns by the age. Coincidently,
there's a story at Saltwire today aboutthe careless disposal of smoking materials being blamed
for causing sixteen fires and HRM andjust the last three months. Some started
inside homes, but an HRM safetyofficer says many were caused by people flicking
lit cigarettes in a dry grass,leaves or mulch. And they're now trying

(02:40):
to get that message out about safeways of disposing butts and that's not really
the Fire Marshal's focus. And I'msure they're just as frustrated about this as
the AG's office. Now. TimHouston has shown a lot of support for
fire services in Nova Scotia, butwhat's needed is a dedicated, separate office
with adequate funding. I'm Sheldon McCloudfor Saltwire