Fire safety plans for Whistler hotels, condo-hotels, strata buildings, daycares and Function Junction businesses, prepared to the BC Fire Code and the Resort Municipality’s Fire and Life Safety Bylaw.

Who needs a fire safety plan in Whistler

Whistler Fire Rescue Service enforces Section 2.8 of the BC Fire Code through the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s Fire and Life Safety Bylaw No. 2201. The bylaw requires the plan in a form, format and diagram template the Fire Chief accepts, submitted to the Chief with the fee in the bylaw’s schedule, reviewed at least annually, resubmitted on any material change, and kept next to the fire alarm panel in a weatherproof box at least 30 by 30 centimetres. If an owner does not prepare a plan, the bylaw lets the department prepare one and bill the owner for it.

Whistler’s building stock is unusual: hotels and condo-hotels in the Village and Upper Village with hundreds of transient guests who have never seen the building before, strata condos and hotels at Creekside, employee housing and townhouses in Cheakamus Crossing, and the workshops, breweries and light industrial buildings of Function Junction. The department’s published inspection checklists cover all buildings, offices, assembly occupancies, daycares, care facilities and manufacturing, and daycares in Whistler run monthly fire drills.

How Whistler Fire Rescue Service reviews a plan

The department reviews plans against the Code and the bylaw. A complete Whistler plan includes the emergency procedures for guests, residents and staff, the appointment of the Fire Safety Director and alternates, staff training and drill frequency, site and floor drawings showing exits, the alarm panel and annunciator, sprinkler and standpipe connections, hydrants and shut-offs, the hazards in the building and how they are controlled, and the maintenance schedules for every fire protection system. For hotels we build the plan around front-desk and night-staff procedures, because those are the people on duty when the alarm sounds.

The bylaw has its own specifics: the weatherproof plan box beside the alarm panel, a lock box holding keys to common areas and service rooms, and a fire safety plan submitted for approval for any manufacturing operation with dust collection or spray coating, which takes in a good share of Function Junction. A review fee applies; we confirm the current amount at submission and include it in your quote.

Whistler’s published construction rules are about wildfire: high-risk work within ten metres of the forest at high or extreme fire danger needs a Wildfire Exemption Permit and a two-hour fire watch after work ends. Construction fire safety plans for the site itself fall under the Code’s construction provisions, and our construction division at constructionfiresafetyplans.ca prepares them.

The buildings we plan for in Whistler

Hotels, condo-hotels, restaurants and retail in Whistler Village. The large hotels and strata condo-hotels of the Upper Village at the base of Blackcomb. Hotels, retail and condo stratas at Creekside. Workshops, breweries and light industrial buildings in Function Junction, including dust-collection and spray-coating operations that need their own approved plan. Employee housing, apartments and townhouses in Cheakamus Crossing. Schools, daycares, care facilities and places of worship across the resort.

Keeping a Whistler plan current

The bylaw requires an annual review and resubmission on any material change: a new general manager or Fire Safety Director, a renovation, a change of monitoring company or alarm panel. Run the drills the plan calls for, monthly for daycares, and keep the records in the weatherproof box beside the panel.

How it works with FireSafetyPlan.com

1. Firm quote in one business day. One upfront price based on building type and size, with any fire department review fee included.
2. Site visit. We confirm exits, fire alarm panel and annunciator, sprinkler and standpipe connections, shut-offs and the plan box location, and photograph the fire protection systems.
3. Draft in five to seven business days. CAD drawings and the full written plan, sent to you for review before anything is submitted.
4. Submission and approval. We submit to the fire department, handle any revisions they ask for, and deliver the accepted plan in print and PDF, with wall plaques and a plan box if you need them.

Approval is guaranteed. If the fire department sends back a plan we prepared, we revise it at no charge until it is accepted.

Recent Whistler projects

A couple of the Whistler buildings we have prepared fire safety plans for, and what made each one different.

• A two-level restaurant in a Whistler Village lodge: a tenant plan where every base-building system sits outside the restaurant’s walls.
• A 2018 workshop with a caretaker suite on Nesters Road: the alarm is not monitored, so calling 9-1-1 is written in as everyone’s job.

Frequently asked questions — Whistler

Our hotel staff turn over every season. How does the plan cope?

The plan names roles rather than people wherever it can, with a training section the front desk can run with each new hire, and the Fire Safety Director designation is updated whenever management changes. We write the procedures for the staff who are actually on duty at night.

Is there a review fee?

Whistler charges a fee to review a fire safety plan, set in the municipal fee bylaw and changed from time to time. We confirm the current amount at submission and include it in your quote so there are no surprises.

Do you travel to Whistler?

Yes. We schedule Whistler site visits together with Squamish and the North Shore so the timing works for your building.

Whistler fire safety plan quote: (778) 574-2895. We reply within one business day.

Read more: strata fire safety plan requirements in BC, what a fire safety plan costs in BC, or request a quote.