1. Fire Watch
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code®, ed. 2006 (sections 3.3.91, 9.6.1.6, and A9.6.1.6) and Joint Commission standards require that, when a fire alarm and/or sprinkler system in an occupied building is out of service for any reason for a specified period of time:
a) the building must be evacuated, or
b) a Fire Watch must be provided continuously until the fire alarm and/or sprinkler system has been returned to service.

Whenever a fire alarm or automatic sprinkler system is out of service in an occupied building for more than 4 hours within a 24 hour period, Hillcrest provides a fire watch.
Depending on conditions, the agency may consider initiating a fire watch before the 4 hour mark is reached. However, if and when the 4/24 mark is reached in an occupied building, a fire watch will be provided

2. Definition
Providing a Fire Watch means designating a trained staff person whose sole responsibility is to look for and prevent fires within a designated area, typically one occupied building, as authorized by a program supervisor, administrator or maintenance supervisor. Fire Watch duties are not to be added to a staff’s normal duties; the person assigned to Fire Watch cannot be engaged in any activities beyond fire prevention and safety.

Maintenance managers and program supervisors are responsible for overseeing the activities of the individual(s) assigned to conduct the Fire Watch.

3. Rationale
In most cases, the evacuation of an occupied building on a Hillcrest campus is not practical and could be disruptive.

All HEC program staff are periodically trained in Rescue, Alarm, Contain, and Extinguish/ Evacuate (RACE) and the implementation of a facility-wide fire watch. The Fire Watch is a short-term alternative that safely allows continued occupancy of facilities. Therefore, all HEC program sites will utilize the following procedure for providing a fire watch.

Conditions and Procedures
a) Immediately following the deactivation of a fire alarm system in an occupied building, the Supervisor or a designee will:
1. contact the on-call maintenance staff;
2. notify the local fire department of the outage;
3. communicate the need for heightened awareness and vigilance to all staff on duty.

b) If more than one occupied building is affected by outages, the Maintenance on call person and the Supervisor or Administrator will decide how many staff will be assigned to Fire Watch, and their areas of responsibility, in order to insure safe conditions.

c) Fire Watch activities include:
(1) Monitoring the unprotected area(s) to detect conditions likely to cause and spread fires.
(2) Promptly notifying the fire department if a fire occurs.

d) The staff serving as Fire Watch will tour the building or buildings for which the Fire Watch staff is responsible, looking through all rooms and areas in the building for possible signs of fire or potentially dangerous conditions.

e) The person assigned to Fire Watch will not engage in any other program or campus related activities or events. At an Administrator’s discretion, additional staff may be called to the program if necessary to insure Fire Watch and safe conditions.

Cancellation of the Fire Watch

A Fire Watch will be cancelled only by the local Fire Department, based on an assessment that the fire alarm and/or sprinkler system is operating properly. Neither agency managers nor the person conducting the Fire Watch have the authority to cancel the Fire Watch without the approval of the local fire department.