Last week, Burnaby City Council passed a motion introduced by Mayor Mike Hurley requesting that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) call for the provincial government to repeal the single egress stairway change introduced last summer.
Prior to the change, buildings three storeys or higher were required to provide at least two egress stairways. The update to the BC Building Code, which came into effect on August 27, changed the regulation so that buildings up to six storeys are only required to provide a single egress stairway.
Housing advocates have said that the old requirement for a second stairway was a design constraint that limited potential building forms and required more land to be assembled for housing developments. While advocates argue that the requirement was from a different era and that safety measures and technology have substantially improved since then, opponents say the potential reward is uncertain and that the safety risk remains real.
Since the update to the BC Building Code came into effect, pushback has surfaced across British Columbia, including in Surrey, Richmond, and Vancouver, the latter of which is currently exploring potential adjustments before implementing the changes, after City staff recommended against implementing the changes.
Most of the pushback has been based on the opinions of emergency response professionals, such as the British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters’ Association (BCPFFA), the Fire Chiefs Association of BC (FCABC), the Greater Vancouver Fire Chiefs’ Association (GVFCA), and the BC Police Association (BCPA), among others, whom Mayor Hurley cited in his motion.
The single egress stairway concept is “complex and should have been properly evaluated through the national code change process, ensuring thorough scrutiny and consideration of all implications” and the Province’s adoption of the change “moved too quickly, did not have supporting data specific to the British Columbia context, and did not adequately consider all stakeholder concerns nor the latest Canadian data,” said Hurley in his motion. (Burnaby’s opposition was reported in September by Bryn Davidson of multiplex builder Lanefab.)
Hurley’s opposition is not only noteworthy because he is the Mayor of one of the largest municipalities in British Columbia, but also because of his unique perspective on the issue. After immigrating from Northern Ireland to Vancouver in 1983, Hurley moved to Burnaby in 1988 and joined the Burnaby Fire Department that same year. He went on to hold positions including Driver, Technical Rescue Team Member, Hazardous Material Specialist, Instructor, Lieutenant, Captain, and Acting Assistant Chief, according to a biography on the City of Burnaby’s website. He has also previously served as VP of the Burnaby Fire Fighters Association, President of the BCPFFA, and calls the Burnaby Fire Fighters Charitable Society his “second home.”
Hurley’s motion called on the UBCM to urge the Province to “immediately suspend the implementation of single exit stairway provisions until a review is completed, incorporating input from UBCM, BCPFFA, FCABC, and other stakeholders” and to “engage in a transparent consultation process with these groups to evaluate safety implications.” Additionally, Hurley also wants the Province to conduct a comprehensive review of the BC Building Code amendments, with a focus on safety for the public and first-responders, people with disabilities, smoke inhalation fatalities, fire response capacity, risks in egress pathways, lithium-ion battery fire risk, and human movement research on evacuations, among other things.
“City governments, and in particular this Council, believe affordable housing is a critical concern for our communities, and I think we have proved that over and over again,” said Hurley after introducing his motion during the regular council meeting on June 10. “But here, affordable housing should not mean unsafe housing. As we address the housing challenges, we still must do our homework to ensure we’re not placing our citizens in a compromised safety position.”
“Let me give you a local example of this,” he added. “When I was on the fire department, we had a person going around the city lighting fires in fire exits and stairwells. That was their trademark. Let’s say there was just one stairwell. How many people would have been compromised or killed in those incidents? This is a ridiculous suggestion by this government, for gaining very little.”
Hurley punctuated his remarks with some barbs directed at the provincial government, saying that the Province continues to tell local governments that they know best. “I’m sorry, but they don’t,” he then said.
“I brought this forward because I truly believe this is a huge risk to public and firefighter safety, so I’m hoping that Council will support me to send this forward to UBCM,” he concluded, before his motion was carried by Council. “Likely, this government won’t listen, as they never do, but I think it’s incumbent on us to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our residents.”