Dedicated Fire Protection System
A major disaster, such as a seismic event, may render the City's conventional
fire protection system unusable. The Kobe earthquake, where the city's
water system suffered more than 10,000 line breaks, illustrated the frustration
of professional firefighters helpless to battle the flames without an
effective water supply.
Following the October 1989 San Francisco earthquake, the City of Vancouver reviewed methods of providing an alternative water supply for fire protection. A concept report recommended a high-pressure saltwater pumping station and dedicated distribution system.
The ocean presents an endless supply of water for firefighting in Vancouver, but it had to be tapped. The City has patterned it's Dedicated Fire Protection System (DFPS) on the successful salt water pumping stations and dedicated supply system in San Francisco.
The City of Vancouver's Engineering Services and Fire & Rescue Services departments have developed a $52 million Dedicated Fire Protection System (DFPS). This enhances the City's ongoing emergency preparedness program to strengthen the City's infrastructure, inform residents and train employees to deal with such events. The system offers protection to the downtown peninsula, Kitsilano, and Fairview Slopes .
The first pump station, at False Creek, was opened in September, 1995, the second opened in Coal Harbour in February 1997. The pipeline protecting the Downtown core and the Kitsilano/Fairview neighbourhoods was constructed over the following six years, with the last segment being completed in the summer of 2003.
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System layout and coverage
All components of the Dedicated Fire Protection System have been designed to withstand a large earthquake and still be fully operational. It has been built to state-of-the-art seismic engineering standards.
Redundancy promotes system reliability, for example, for each pump station, water for firefighting can come from three independent sources. All power, fuel and drive systems in the stations have several levels of backup. Following a failure of the City's water system, after a major seismic or other disaster event, each pump station will still pump up to 10,000 gallons per minute of salt water for fire fighting. The system's dedicated pipelines are separate from the conventional water system, and will complement the conventional water system in the event of a 3 alarm or better fire.
Construction of the Dedicated Fire Protection System began in 1993. Completed in 2003, it consists of two (2) ocean foreshore pump stations and a network of 600mm (24 inch) diameter steel pipe with specially marked, high- capacity fire hydrants in Kitsilano, Fairview Slopes, and the downtown core. The system is able to supply 20,000 gallons per minute at a minimum hydrant pressure of 200 psi.
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