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📁 MARK'S DOC
🔗 Linked Evidence
Burnaby_Fire_Department_Email — p.1
📄 Burnaby Fire Department Email | p.1
📄 Burnaby Fire Department Email | p.1
📝 Extracted Text (OCR)
3/18/26, 9:53 AM Gmail - SUBJECT: Fire Code Violations — Server Rack Installation — 6800 14 Ave Burnaby, BC — OMC1 Control Training Room a | Gr ! dail mark holand <marktholand@gmail.com> SUBJECT: Fire Code Violations — Server Rack Installation — 6800 14 Ave Burnaby, BC — OMC1 Control Training Room 1 message mark holand <marktholand@gmail.com> Sat, Mar 7, 2026 at 12:21 PM To: fire@burnaby.ca TO: Burnaby Fire Department — Fire Prevention Division EMAIL: fire@burnaby.ca PHONE: 604-294-7190 SUBJECT: Fire Code Violations — Server Rack Installation — 6800 14 Ave Burnaby, BC — OMC1 Control Training Room To the Burnaby Fire Prevention Division, lam writing to report multiple fire code violations | have directly observed and photographed at the following location: BCRTC Operations & Maintenance Centre 1 (OMC1) 6800 14 Ave, Burnaby, BC Location: Control Training Room, Floor 2 | was present in this room as a student from January 12 to January 29, 2026. The room contains two refrigerator-sized server racks installed in an occupied training room directly behind a student workstation. Photographic evidence of all violations described below is attached to this email. VIOLATION 1 — INADEQUATE FIRE SUPPRESSION FOR SERVER RACK INSTALLATION The room contains an existing office-grade sprinkler head. However, this sprinkler was installed prior to the server racks and is neither positioned directly overhead nor designed specifically for server rack fire suppression. NFPA 75 (Standard for the Fire Protection of Information Technology Equipment) requires that fire suppression systems be specifically designed and positioned for the IT equipment they protect. An office sprinkler head located away from the racks and activated by ambient ceiling temperature does not meet this standard for equipment of this scale and heat output. Critically, one server rack has a side panel missing (see Violation 2). In the event of an electrical fire inside the rack, plastic components and cabling will begin to combust and accelerate rapidly before the ambient ceiling temperature rises sufficiently to activate a distant office sprinkler. By the time suppression activates, the fire will have already spread beyond the rack enclosure into the occupied room. The existing sprinkler does not constitute adequate fire suppression for this installation. A properly designed system — wet pre-action, clean agent, or equivalent — positioned specifically for these racks is required under NFPA 75 and NFPA 76. VIOLATION 2 — MISSING SERVER RACK SIDE PANEL One server rack has a side panel missing on the side facing the room and the window. This panel is a critical component of the rack's fire containment enclosure. Its absence: Removes the fire barrier between internal rack components and the occupied room Allows unrestricted combustion airflow in the event of internal ignition ¢ Directs heat and potential flame directly toward an occupied workstation two feet away ¢ Eliminates the containment design the rack was engineered with In combination with the inadequate suppression system described above, this missing panel represents a serious and immediate fire risk to room occupants. Photographic evidence of the missing panel is attached. VIOLATION 3 — OPEN CEILING PANEL AND UNFIRESTOPPED CABLE PENETRATION Cables from the server racks pass through an open ceiling panel with no firestopping material applied. This is a direct violation of BC Fire Code 2018 and BC Building Code requirements for fire barrier penetrations. An unsealed ceiling penetration creates a chimney effect — in the event of fire, smoke and flame travel freely between floors through the cable pathway. Penetrations through rated barriers must be firestopped to a rating equal to the barrier they pass through. This penetration has no firestopping whatsoever. Photographic evidence is attached. VIOLATION 4 — INSUFFICIENT WALL CLEARANCE AND OVERLOADED ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS The server racks are installed with insufficient clearance from the rear wall, violating NFPA minimum clearance requirements for air circulation, suppression system access, and emergency access around the equipment. The consequences of this improper installation are already visible: electrical circuits serving these racks have been tripping breakers due to overload. A portable fan has been placed on the windowsill in an attempt to manage heat — this is not a code-compliant thermal management solution and represents an additional ignition risk. The combination of an open panel rack, overloaded tripping circuits, inadequate suppression, and a direct chimney path to the Operations Control Centre above represents a cascading failure scenario. This installation is primed for exactly the kind of event these codes were written to prevent. VIOLATION 5 — UNPERMITTED INSTALLATION IN OCCUPIED TRAINING ROOM https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=7 1cd554d90&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a:r4015535226983575783&simpl=msg-a:r881 2696 11384654... 1/2