Washington DC
Fire Watch

WASHINGTON DC
Washington DC Fire Watch Personnel
Code Compliance Guideline

A fire watch is a short-term, emergency measure to provide an acceptable level of life safety in an unsafe or hazardous conditions existing in a building or structures. A fire watch is a compensatory measure only. It is intended to allow continued occupancy of a building or facility that may not be safe to be occupied during the time period required for implementing appropriate changes or repairs. The purpose of the fire watch is to check all areas of the building on a regular basis to detect fire/life safety emergencies and provide prompt notification to 911 along with the building occupants of the appropriate actions to be taken.


Required
A fire watch is required to be implemented immediately when certain conditions are discovered either by the facility manager or by the Fire Marshal. Examples of when a fire watch will be required by the DC Fire and EMS Department, Office of the Fire Marshal include, but are not limited to:

• Outages for maintenance (four hours or longer), significant impairment of or out-of-service fire alarm system.

• Outages for maintenance (four hours or longer), significant impairment of or out-of-service fire suppression system.

• Blocked or locked means of egress and/or exit.

• Hazardous or dangerous conditions that create an immediate life hazard (this condition shall require notification to 911).

Each situation will be evaluated individually and outages for maintenance will be reviewed for the length of time involved to perform the work. Procedures: In the event that the building fire alarm system is inoperable or any other of the above situations occur immediately notify OPEFM Safety, Regulatory and Environmental Compliance Section at (202) 576-8962.
If it is determined that a fire watch is needed the Safety, Regulatory and Environmental Compliance Section will conduct a building survey. Size and configuration of the building, hours of operation and any special hazards will determine the time and number of persons required for the fire watch.

The Safety, Regulatory and Environmental compliance Section will inform the DC Fire and EMS Department, Office of the Fire Marshal that a fire watch has been established.

The Principal or Building Manager will notify building staff of system status using the Fire Alarm System Failure- Fire Watch memo. A copy of the memo will be forwarded to OPEFM Safety, Regulatory and Environmental Compliance Section at (202) 576-8962 which may be forwarded to DC Fire Marshal, if requested.


The Principal or Building Manager will issue Fire Watch – Duty Statement memo to person selected to participate in the fire watch and inform them of their selection to participate, their hours of service and duties involved. Duties are:
Identify at least one means of direct communication with the Fire Department (A telephone is acceptable).

• Conduct periodic patrols of the entire facility checking for the occurrence of fire.

• Identify any fire, life or property hazards.

• Notify occupants of the facility of the need to evacuate.

• Notify the DC Fire Department if a fire is discovered, by calling 9-1-1 with the exact address and type of emergency.

• Maintain a log of activities during the fire watch.

Principal or Building Manager will establish a Fire Watch Log Sheet and maintain the log until fire alarm system is placed back in service or any other emergency is corrected. Completed log sheet will be forwarded to OPEFM Safety, Regulatory and Environmental Compliance Section at (202) 576-8962 for review and will be forwarded to DC Fire Marshal if requested. OPEFM Safety, Regulatory and Environmental Compliance Section will notify DC Fire and EMS Department, Office of the Fire Marshal when the situation returns to normal operations and the fire watch is no longer needed.

 

The Fire Marshal has a important job and that is to save lives. Firewatch DMV works hand in hand with the Washington DC Fire Marshal's office to ensure proper protocols are aligned for Firewatch.


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