Free Canadian Fire Alarm Guides
Properly researched, sourced to Canadian codes and standards, and free. No signup, no paywall.
Guides
Who Can Legally Install, Verify and Test Fire Alarm Systems in Ontario?
Ontario law does name who may work on fire alarm systems, and most articles on this subject get it wrong. Under Division C, Subsection 1.2.1 of the Ontario Fire…
CAN/ULC-S524, S537, S536 and S1001: What Each Standard Actually Covers
Canada splits fire alarm work across four separate standards where the American system uses one. S524 governs installation. S537 governs verification, a one-tim…
CFAA Course Exemptions for Licensed Electricians: What You Can Skip and What It Saves
If you hold a valid Canadian electrician's licence, CFAA says you may be exempt from Courses 2, 3 and 4 of its Fire Alarm Technician Training program. Courses 1…
What CFAA certification actually costs, itemised
Becoming a CFAA Registered Fire Alarm Technician costs roughly $2,773 before tax if you take all five courses and pay the published exam fees, or roughly $1,555…
Which college course counts as which CFAA course
CFAA recognises courses at sixteen education partners as equivalent to its own five technician courses, and publishes the exact course code for each. Eleven par…
The CFAA Practical Exam: what actually happens on the day
The CFAA practical exam is a hands-on test in which you perform a complete verification inspection to CAN/ULC-S537 on a real fire alarm system and fill out the…
CFAA registration is not a licence: what it actually authorises
There is no such thing as a CFAA licence. The Canadian Fire Alarm Association is a not-for-profit industry association, and what it issues is a registration: th…
The Ontario Fire Code Changes That Took Effect 1 January 2026: For the Technician Doing the Work
O. Reg. 87/25 amended the Ontario Fire Code effective 1 January 2026. It did not replace it, the Fire Code is still O. Reg. 213/07, as amended. For anyone doing…
How to Become a Fire Alarm Technician in Ontario (2026)
There is no fire alarm technician trade in Ontario; it is not one of Skilled Trades Ontario's 144 trades. But that does not mean the work is unregulated. Two se…
Which Edition of the Standard Actually Applies to Your Job?
The newest published standard is almost never the one you build to. CAN/ULC 524:2024 (the 8th edition of the installation standard) was published in December 20…
Suite Fault Isolators: What They Are and Where They Actually Go
In Canadian residential and care occupancies, audible devices inside dwelling units have to be wired so a fault at one device does not knock out the devices ser…
What a CAN/ULC-S537 Verification Actually Involves
Verification is a one-time event that proves a newly installed or altered fire alarm system was built to its design and to CAN/ULC-S524, and that it does everyt…
Powering a Fire Alarm System: What CEC Section 32 Requires
Fire alarm circuits in Canada are governed by Section 32 of the Canadian Electrical Code, and they are held to a stricter standard than ordinary low-voltage con…
Fire Alarm Audibility in Ontario: How Loud It Has to Be
In Ontario, the fire alarm audible signal within a floor area must be not less than 10 dBA above the ambient noise level and not less than 65 dBA, with interven…
Single-Stage vs Two-Stage Fire Alarm Systems in Ontario
A single-stage system sounds one signal (the alarm) on every audible signal device in the system, the moment any manual station, waterflow detecting device or f…
Fire Alarm Verification vs Annual Inspection and Testing in Ontario (S537 vs S536)
They are two different duties under two different laws, and the trade mixes them up constantly. A verification is a CAN/ULC-S537 check of what was just installe…
ULC vs UL: What Actually Counts in Canada
Almost every ULC-versus-UL argument on a job site is two different things being confused. A standard is a document, CAN/ULC-S524 is a document. A certification…
Smoke Alarm vs Smoke Detector: Two Different Things in Ontario Law
They are not the same device and Ontario law does not treat them as the same device. A smoke alarm is self-contained: it senses smoke and sounds the alarm itsel…
Where Ontario's Fire Alarm Rules Differ from the National Building Code
Ontario no longer has its own full-length Building Code. Since 1 January 2025, O. Reg. 163/24 (a regulation one page long) adopts the National Building Code of…
Building Code vs Fire Code: Which One Governs What (Ontario)
The Building Code governs how a building is designed and constructed. The Fire Code governs how a building is operated and maintained once it is in use. In Onta…
Every Canadian Fire Alarm Code and Standard: And Where to Get Each One Free
Some of it is free, some of it costs money, and one of Ontario's two codes is no longer published in full at all. The Ontario Fire Code is free and complete on…
Canadian Fire Alarm Code Updates: What Changed and When
Ontario's fire alarm code has changed more in the last twenty months than in the decade before it. The Building Code was revoked and replaced on 1 January 2025,…
Which Fire Alarm Standard Applies to What I'm Doing? (Ontario)
Five common tasks, five different answers. Installing a new system is CAN/ULC-S524 under Building Code Article 3.2.4.5.(1). Verifying it is CAN/ULC-S537 under A…
CFAA vs ECAO Certi-Fire: Comparing Ontario's Two Accepted Fire Alarm Programs
Ontario's Fire Code does not name either program. It requires "a program or course acceptable to the Fire Marshal" for anyone who performs annual fire alarm tes…
Addressable vs Conventional Fire Alarm Systems (Canada)
Neither architecture is required by Canadian code. "Addressable" and "conventional" are industry terms, not defined terms in the Building Code or the Fire Code.…
NFPA 72 vs CAN/ULC-S524: Why American Fire Alarm Guidance Fails in Canada
NFPA 72 is a serious document, and it is referenced in Ontario law, but not for what most people assume. In Ontario's Building Code, NFPA 72 is invoked exactly…
Which CAN/ULC Edition Has Your AHJ Adopted? A Province-by-Province Lookup
The edition that applies is the one your code table designates, and it is almost never the newest published. Ontario designates CAN/ULC-S524:2019 and S537:2019…
Fire Alarm Training in Canada: Every Option, Compared
There is no single Canadian fire alarm credential. What you need depends on which province you are working in and which task you are doing, and the credential d…
Fire Alarm Questions, Answered
Twenty questions Canadian electricians actually search for, each answered in a few sentences and each linked to the guide that sets out the code text behind it.…
Fire Alarm Work for Electrical Apprentices: Where to Start
You have been put on a fire alarm job and nobody explained the rules. Here is the order to learn them in. First, what the system is and which of the four Canadi…
Fire Alarm Work for Licensed Electricians: Where to Start
You already know how to install the system. What is usually missing is which document governs the task, which edition of it your province actually adopted, and…
Fire Alarm Compliance for Building Owners and Property Managers (Ontario)
Ontario puts a small number of specific duties on the owner, and they are not the ones most sales conversations lead with. The Fire Code says the owner shall en…
Fire Alarm Work in Alberta: Who Can Do It and What Governs It
Alberta writes the qualification into the code itself. National Fire Code, 2023 Alberta Edition, Division C, Article 2.2.4.3 names what you must hold: for insta…
Fire Alarm Work in British Columbia: Who Can Do It and What Governs It
British Columbia has no provincial law that names a qualification for working on fire alarm systems. That is the honest answer, and it is not the same answer as…
Fire Alarm Work in Quebec: Who Can Do It and What Governs It
Quebec does not license fire alarm technicians. It licenses fire alarm contractors. That is the structural difference from Ontario, and it changes the question…
Fire Alarm Work in Manitoba: Who Can Do It and What Governs It
Manitoba has a real qualification rule, written into the Fire Code itself, and it names the Canadian Fire Alarm Association by name. Manitoba Fire Code Division…
Fire Alarm Work in Saskatchewan: Who Can Do It and What Governs It
Saskatchewan has no provincial rule that names a qualification for working on fire alarm systems. Not for installation, not for verification, not for annual ins…
Fire Alarm Systems in Atlantic Canada: Who Can Work on Them
Three of the four Atlantic provinces name no qualification whatsoever for fire alarm work. Newfoundland and Labrador is the exception, and it is a big one: NLR…
Alarm, supervisory or trouble: what each signal means and what you do about it
Alarm, supervisory and trouble are three separate signal types that answer three different questions about a building. An alarm means an initiating device such…
Fire alarm cable in Canada: what the electrical code and CAN/ULC-S524 actually require
Fire alarm cable in Canada is governed by Section 32 of the Canadian Electrical Code, adopted in Ontario as the Ontario Electrical Safety Code, which requires c…
Fire Alarm Ground Fault Troubleshooting: A Canadian Walkthrough
A ground fault on a fire alarm circuit is an unintended low resistance path between a field conductor and grounded metalwork, and the panel reports it only beca…
CAN/ULC edition tracker: published edition versus adopted edition
The edition of a CAN/ULC standard that is on sale is almost never the edition your job is built to. As of 5 September 2026 the current published installation st…
Duct smoke detectors in Ontario: what the code requires and where they actually go
Ontario requires a duct-type smoke detector where a fire alarm system is installed and the air-handling system serves more than one storey, more than one suite…
Elevator recall and the fire alarm system: what Ontario actually requires
The fire alarm system's role in Ontario elevator recall is narrow: it provides the initiating devices and a supervised contact telling the elevator controller t…
What Fire Alarm Work Actually Pays in Canada
Job Bank reports a national median of $26.50 an hour for the title fire alarm technician, but that number comes from NOC 22311, electronic service technicians,…
Manual pull station placement and mounting height in Canada
Ontario Building Code Article 3.8.1.5 sets the mounting height for a manual station located in or adjacent to a barrier-free path of travel at 1 200 mm above th…
Fire alarm monitoring in Canada: what CAN/ULC-S561 requires and when you need it
Fire alarm monitoring in Ontario is required by Article 3.2.4.7 of the 2024 Ontario Building Code, which says notification of the fire department must be provid…
Integrated systems testing under CAN/ULC-S1001: who runs it, what it covers, and what it costs
Integrated systems testing under CAN/ULC-S1001 proves that the fire alarm system correctly drives every other life safety system in the building and that those…
How to Read a Fire Alarm Riser Diagram and an Input Output Matrix
A fire alarm riser diagram is a one page schematic of the whole system, showing the control unit, its power supply and every circuit that leaves it, while an in…
Does Fire Alarm Work Count Toward Your 309A Hours?
Yes. Fire alarm work counts toward your 309A apprenticeship hours, provided you are doing it for your registered sponsor under a Registered Training Agreement.…
309A or CFAA: what each one actually authorises you to do
The 309A and CFAA registration are not alternatives. The 309A Certificate of Qualification is a compulsory trade certification issued by Skilled Trades Ontario…
Ontario's carbon monoxide alarm rules, written for the person installing them
Ontario's carbon monoxide alarm requirements sit in two places: Section 2.16 of Division B of the Ontario Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07) for existing buildings, and…
The two ways to wire residential audibility in Canada: Class A, or Class B with suite fault isolators
Audible devices inside a dwelling unit have two compliant wiring paths in Canada: Class A wiring, or Class B wiring with a suite fault isolator installed outsid…
Who Can Work on Fire Alarm Systems, Province by Province
Canada has no national fire alarm technician credential, and only four of thirteen jurisdictions name a qualification for the individual doing the work: Ontario…
Does NICET certification count in Canada?
NICET certification does not satisfy any Canadian fire alarm qualification requirement. It is an American credential awarded by the National Institute for Certi…
The best fire alarm training in Canada: an honest comparison
If you need a fire alarm credential a Canadian authority actually accepts, the answer is the CFAA Fire Alarm Technician Training Program, or ECAO Certi-Fire if…
Smoke detector spacing in Canada: what the code requires, what the standard governs, and what the listing sets
Smoke detector spacing in Canada is governed by CAN/ULC-S524, Standard for Installation of Fire Alarm Systems, not by the Building Code and not by NFPA 72. The…
CFAA is Restructuring Its Technician Designation Into Three Tiers
The Canadian Fire Alarm Association has published a plan to replace its single fire alarm technician designation with three tiers, named in its own journal as C…
Your fire alarm panel is showing trouble: what it means and who can legally fix it
A trouble signal means the fire alarm system has found a fault in itself, not a fire. The building is not burning, but the system is telling you it can no longe…
Fire watch in Ontario: when it is required, who can do it, and what it involves
In Ontario the duty to post a fire watch when a fire alarm or sprinkler system is out of service comes from the building's fire safety plan, not from any articl…
What a Fire Alarm Inspection Costs in Ontario, and What You Are Actually Paying For
Ontario requires a fire alarm system in service to be inspected and tested in conformance with CAN/ULC-S536, under Fire Code Article 6.3.2.2, and Article 6.3.2.…
Starting a Fire Alarm Contracting Business in Ontario
Ontario answers two separate questions with two separate instruments, and starting a fire alarm contracting business means satisfying both. To sell and carry ou…
Which Ontario Building Code Is Actually In Force?
The Ontario Building Code is O. Reg. 163/24, and the regulation does not contain the code. Section 1 adopts the National Building Code of Canada 2020 (First Pri…
Glossary
AHJ: Authority Having Jurisdiction
An authority having jurisdiction is whoever the law puts in charge of enforcing a particular code on a particular job. On an Ontario fire alarm job there are us…
CAN/ULC-S524
CAN/ULC-S524 is the Canadian standard for the installation of fire alarm systems, covering design and installation with or without voice communication, and its…
CAN/ULC-S527
The Canadian standard for fire alarm **control units**, the panel itself. The current published edition is CAN/ULC-527:2024, the 5th edition, which replaced S52…
CAN/ULC-S528
CAN/ULC-S528 is the Canadian product standard for manual stations, the pull stations an occupant operates to put a fire alarm system into alarm, together with t…
CAN/ULC-S529
CAN/ULC-S529 is the Canadian product standard for smoke detectors used in fire alarm systems, meaning heads that report to a control unit rather than sounding o…
CAN/ULC-S530
The Canadian standard for **heat detectors**. It is now in its 2nd edition, published 11 December 2024 and revised 24 October 2025, and it has been retitled fro…
CAN/ULC-S531
CAN/ULC-S531 is the Canadian product standard for smoke alarms, the self-contained units that sense smoke and sound at the device, as distinct from system conne…
CAN/ULC-S536
CAN/ULC-S536 is the Canadian standard for the periodic inspection and testing of fire alarm systems already in service, specifying which devices and functions m…
CAN/ULC-S537
CAN/ULC-S537 is the Canadian standard for the verification of fire alarm systems, the one time process of proving that what was installed matches the design and…
CAN/ULC-S540
CAN/ULC-S540 is the Canadian standard for residential fire and life safety warning systems, covering their installation, inspection, testing and maintenance. It…
CAN/ULC-S559
CAN/ULC-S559 is the Canadian standard for the equipment used in fire signal receiving centres and systems: the transmitter at the protected premises, the receiv…
CAN/ULC-S561
CAN/ULC-S561 is the Canadian standard for the installation and services of fire signal receiving centres and systems, which is the monitoring side of the job: t…
CAN/ULC-S573
CAN/ULC-S573 is the Canadian standard for the installation of ancillary devices connected to fire alarm systems, meaning the equipment the panel drives that is…
CAN/ULC-S1001
CAN/ULC-S1001 is the Canadian standard for integrated systems testing of fire protection and life safety systems, and it governs the interfaces rather than any…
CEC Section 32
Section 32 is the part of the Canadian Electrical Code, CSA C22.1, that covers fire alarm systems, permanently connected smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and f…
NBC: National Building Code of Canada
The National Building Code of Canada is a model construction code issued by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes, part of the National Research Co…
NFC: National Fire Code of Canada
The National Fire Code of Canada is the model code for how a building is operated and maintained once it is occupied, as opposed to how it is built. Like the Na…
OBC: Ontario Building Code
The Ontario Building Code is O. Reg. 163/24, in force since 1 January 2025. It is a one page regulation that adopts the National Building Code of Canada 2020, F…
OESC: Ontario Electrical Safety Code
The Ontario Electrical Safety Code is the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I, published by CSA as CSA C22.1, with Ontario specific amendments bound in. The 2024 e…
OFC: Ontario Fire Code
The Ontario Fire Code is O. Reg. 213/07, made under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, and amended by O. Reg. 87/25 with effect from 1 January 2026.…
SCC: Standards Council of Canada
The Standards Council of Canada runs Canada's accreditation programs. It does not write standards and it does not certify products: it accredits the organisatio…
ULC / ULC Standards
ULC Standards is the developer of the CAN/ULC family of standards, the documents Canadian fire alarm work is built and tested to. Effective 1 April 2025 it tran…
Adoption gap
The adoption gap is the distance between the edition of a standard that has been published and the edition a code actually designates, which is the only one you…
Listed
Listed, in the Canadian building code sense, means equipment or materials included in a list published by a certification organization accredited by the Standar…
Addressable system
An addressable system is one in which every device carries a unique address on a data loop and reports to the panel individually, so the control unit identifies…
Ancillary device
An ancillary device is equipment the fire alarm system drives that is not part of core detection or notification: magnetic door holders, damper and fan shutdown…
Annunciator
An annunciator is the display that shows fire alarm system status by zone, placed where arriving firefighters will see it without opening the control unit. The…
CACF: Central Alarm and Control Facility
A central alarm and control facility, or CACF, is the location from which the fire alarm and voice communication systems are monitored and operated during an em…
Conventional system
A conventional system is one in which devices are wired into circuits and the panel reports which circuit, and therefore which zone, changed state rather than w…
DCL: Data Communication Link
A data communication link, or DCL, is the supervised circuit that carries digital traffic between pieces of fire alarm control equipment, and between control eq…
DCL Style N
DCL Style N is a data communication link style that the 2019 edition of CAN/ULC-S524 introduced alongside Ethernet wiring for fire alarm systems. UL's own brief…
Fire alarm control unit (FACU)
The fire alarm control unit is the panel: the listed assembly that receives signals from initiating devices, drives the notification appliance circuits, supervi…
Fire alarm matrix
A fire alarm input output matrix is a table that states, for every input the system can see, exactly what the system must do about it: inputs run down the rows,…
Riser diagram
A riser diagram is a one page schematic of a fire alarm system: the building flattened onto a single sheet, showing the control unit, its power supply and every…
Single-stage system
A single-stage fire alarm system sounds one signal, the alarm, on all audible signal devices in the system the moment any manual station, waterflow detecting de…
SLC: Signalling Line Circuit
A signalling line circuit, or SLC, is the addressable loop that carries both power and data between a fire alarm control unit and its field devices, so each det…
Transponder
A transponder is a remote node of the fire alarm control unit: a cabinet placed away from the main panel, tied back to it over the data communication link, with…
Two-stage system
A two-stage fire alarm system sounds an alert signal first, addressed to designated persons, and an alarm signal follows automatically if that alert is not ackn…
Voice communication system
A voice communication system broadcasts live or pre-recorded voice messages over loudspeakers so occupants can be given instructions rather than just a tone. On…
Zone
A zone is a defined part of a building that the fire alarm system reports on as a single identified area, so that responders reading the annunciator know roughl…
Class A Circuit
A Class A fire alarm circuit runs from the panel through every device and back to the panel on a separately routed return path, so a single open conductor does…
Class B Circuit
A Class B fire alarm circuit is a single path out from the panel with no return, so an open conductor disables every device beyond the break while the panel rep…
Dedicated circuit
A dedicated circuit is a branch circuit that supplies the fire alarm control unit and nothing else, with a disconnecting means that is permanently marked, red,…
End-of-line (EOL) device
An end-of-line device, historically a resistor, sits at the far end of a supervised fire alarm circuit on a Canadian fire alarm system and gives the panel a kno…
Fault tolerance / the single-fault rule
Fault tolerance is the single fault rule in the 2019 edition of CAN/ULC-S524: where any type of fire alarm circuit serves more than one fire alarm zone required…
Ground fault
A ground fault on a Canadian fire alarm system is an unintended low resistance path between a field conductor and grounded metalwork. Because initiating and not…
IDC: Initiating Device Circuit
An initiating device circuit, or IDC, is the supervised two wire circuit that connects conventional initiating devices such as manual stations, smoke detectors,…
Isolator
An isolator is a module that opens a faulted segment of a fire alarm circuit so the rest of the circuit keeps operating. The 2019 edition of CAN/ULC-S524 recogn…
Lock-on device
A lock-on device is the accessory that secures a fire alarm circuit breaker in the ON position, and it is one of three things Section 32 of the Canadian Electri…
NAC: Notification Appliance Circuit
A notification appliance circuit, or NAC, is the supervised output circuit that powers horns, bells, strobes and speakers so the building gets an audible and vi…
Open circuit fault
An open circuit fault is a break in the continuity of a fire alarm circuit: a cut conductor, a loose terminal, a device removed from the run, or a splice that h…
Shielded cable
Shielded cable on a Canadian fire alarm job is normally a twisted shielded pair used on data circuits, with a foil or braid layer and a bare drain wire wrapped…
Short circuit fault
A short circuit fault is an unintended low resistance connection between the two conductors of a fire alarm circuit, which collapses loop resistance toward zero…
Suite fault isolator
A suite fault isolator is the isolator type that keeps a fault inside one dwelling unit from silencing the audible devices serving the other suites, and it is i…
Supervision
Supervision is the continuous electrical monitoring of a fire alarm circuit's integrity, so that a broken conductor, a short between conductors or a conductor t…
Beam detector
A beam detector, properly a projected beam smoke detector, measures the obscuration of a light beam sent across a space between a transmitter and a receiver or…
CO detector
A CO detector is a carbon monoxide sensing device that reports to a control unit rather than sounding on its own, and in Canada it is listed to CAN/ULC-S588, th…
Duct smoke detector
A duct smoke detector is a smoke detector mounted on, or sampling from, an air duct so that the air handling system stops circulating smoke once smoke reaches t…
Flame detector
A flame detector responds to the optical radiation given off by a flame, in the ultraviolet band, the infrared band, or both, rather than to smoke or heat. It i…
Heat detector
A heat detector is an initiating device that responds to temperature rather than smoke, using a fixed temperature element, a rate of rise element, or both in on…
Manual station / pull station
A manual station, commonly called a pull station, is the manually operated initiating device an occupant uses to put the fire alarm system into alarm. Ontario B…
Smoke detector
A smoke detector is an initiating device that senses the products of combustion, usually on a photoelectric or ionisation principle, and reports to a fire alarm…
Sprinkler flow switch
A sprinkler flow switch, properly a waterflow detecting device, signals the fire alarm system when water is moving in a sprinkler system, which in a wet system…
Supervisory device
A supervisory device monitors the readiness of another fire protection system rather than detecting fire, and it produces a supervisory signal, which is a third…
Audibility
Audibility is the requirement that the fire alarm signal actually be heard where people are, and it is a measured performance test rather than a device specific…
CIS: Common Intelligibility Scale
CIS is the Common Intelligibility Scale, an acoustics measure of how understandable speech is over a voice communication system, expressed as a number between 0…
Horn
A horn is an audible signal device, the appliance that produces the tone occupants hear when the fire alarm system operates. Ontario's Building Code never names…
Low-frequency signal
Ontario Building Code Sentence 3.2.4.18.(6) requires audible signal devices in sleeping rooms in a building of residential or care occupancy to emit a low frequ…
Notification appliance
A notification appliance is any device that tells occupants the fire alarm system has operated: a horn, a bell, a speaker, or a strobe. Ontario's Building Code…
Sleeping room requirement
Ontario Building Code Sentence 3.2.4.18.(5) requires the fire alarm audible signal to reach not less than 75 dBA in a sleeping room in a building of residential…
Strobe / visual signal device
A strobe is a visible signal device, a flashing appliance that supplements the audible alarm signal. Ontario Building Code Article 3.2.4.19, Sentence (1), makes…
Attendance log
An attendance log is the record of who attended a fire alarm inspection or test and when, and it belongs to the report package rather than to the code. The Onta…
Certificate of Verification
A certificate of verification is the document issued on completion of a CAN/ULC-S537 verification, attesting that a new or altered fire alarm system was install…
Deficiency
A deficiency is a recorded finding that a fire alarm device, component or function does not meet the standard, the design or its intended function, and it creat…
Inspection
Inspection, under CAN/ULC-S536, is the visual examination of a fire alarm system already in service to confirm it appears capable of operating as intended. It i…
Integrated Testing Coordinator
The integrated testing coordinator is the person the building owner retains to plan and run integrated systems testing under CAN/ULC-S1001, proving that when on…
Maintenance
Maintenance is the work of keeping a fire alarm system operational, principally the repair or replacement of inoperative devices and components, as distinct fro…
Recommendation
A recommendation is a finding recorded on a CAN/ULC-S536 inspection report or a CAN/ULC-S537 verification report that suggests an improvement to the system with…
Remark
Remark was a finding type on older CAN/ULC fire alarm report forms, used for contextual information that was neither a compliance failure nor a suggested improv…
Silent accelerated battery test
The silent accelerated battery test is the battery test method that the 2019 edition of CAN/ULC-S536 introduced, replacing the older practice of putting a meter…
Testing
Testing is the operational confirmation that a fire alarm device, circuit or function actually performs as intended, as distinct from inspection, which is the v…
Verification
Verification is the one-time process, defined by CAN/ULC-S537, of proving that a newly installed or altered fire alarm system matches its design, complies with…
Battery calculation
A battery calculation sizes the secondary supply so it can carry the system through the required supervisory period and then the required alarm period, at full…
Standby power / secondary supply
Standby power is the secondary supply that keeps a fire alarm system running when normal power fails, and in Canada its duration is set by the building code, no…
Voltage drop
Voltage drop is the voltage lost along the conductors of a circuit under load, and on a fire alarm notification appliance circuit it is usually what limits the…
309A
The 309A is the Ontario Certificate of Qualification for Electrician, Construction and Maintenance, issued by Skilled Trades Ontario. It is a compulsory trade:…
ASTTBC RFPT
Registered Fire Protection Technician is a registration granted by the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia, which was continued as…
CFAA: Canadian Fire Alarm Association
The Canadian Fire Alarm Association is a member supported non-profit industry association, established in 1973, that runs the Fire Alarm Technician Training Pro…
CFAA Registered Fire Alarm Technician
A CFAA Registered Technician has completed the Canadian Fire Alarm Association's five course, 180 hour Fire Alarm Technician Training Program and passed both it…
Certi-Fire
Certi-Fire is the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario's Alarm and Protection Certification Program: four levels of 40 hours each, plus a Level 5 recer…
ECRA/ESA licence
The ECRA/ESA licence is the Electrical Contractor Licence issued by the Electrical Safety Authority under the Electricity Act, 1998 and Ontario Regulation 570/0…
ESA: Electrical Safety Authority
The Electrical Safety Authority is the body that enforces electrical safety in Ontario. It inspects electrical installations, administers the Ontario Electrical…
RBQ: Régie du bâtiment du Québec
The Régie du bâtiment du Québec is Quebec's construction regulator, and it licenses contractors, meaning companies, not individual technicians. Section 46 of th…