The CFAA Fire Alarm Technician’s Podcast

Celebrating International Women In Engineering Day (INWED), we have 4 women with very different stories on how they moved into fire protection engineering. Please join us for this very informative Podcast! We also have Aaron Lee back to go over ULC standards revisions and what they mean to us when the Building and Fire Codes are updated. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Chris goes through the new Videos that were recorded with Edge Factor on soft skills, written and verbal communication https://edgefactor.com/my-organization/463fdb55-d27e-429b-9f88-d1844113f65c/content/player https://youtu.be/gfWefg1ayEo?si=qpFjErcEcF0d32cD Codes corner with Aaron Lee is on the upcoming OFC (Ontario Fire Code) changes for Ontario... obviously! Hosted on Acast. Se...

This week is on a very interesting and slightly divisive topic. What do we consider as 'like for like' replacement of a fire alarm control panel and what should we do to ensure that we are covered for liability when we do these service replacements? Look for the ULC Bulletin 2006-03 for the sub-committee commentary and recommendations on who we must have present for a verification, depending on th...

Let's hear from someone who is new to our industry, but not new to the workforce... Aaron brings a different perspective that may help some of our techs with their own struggles to navigate a 'job' vs a 'career'. We also have Aaron Lee talking about the code updates for Ontario. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we have a great episode with some good education on what are 2 stage systems, when are they used, and how they differ from other multi-stage systems or single stage systems. Thanks to Rick CHeung from the Vancouver Fire Department for coming on the podcast! Please refer to this guide from the City of Vancouver for their interpretation of this code. https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/vancouv...

Mike Ellis is the Above and Beyond AWard winner for Alberta for 2024. Listen to Mike's story and hear about his venture in safer battery testing with Volt Verify. www.voltverify.ca Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Aaron Lee Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever had the chance to really listen and get to know what the fire safety officers do in your town? Today we have a discussion with two members of the fire service in the Calgary area. Comments? Email us at marketing@cfaa.ca Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring the Quebec chapter of the CFAA (the ACAI in French) to the podcast to introduce us to their 2024 winner of the Above and Beyond Award! The first part is in French and then I offer a summary translation at the end for those who didn't -quite- catch it all! Thanks to Raphael for taking the reigns and leading the interview in my SECOND language! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

This week, we talk to Suzanne Alfano (Executive Director of the CFAA) Stephen Ames (past President and currently working on the ISO certification project for the CFAA) about the contemplated certification to ISO standard 17024. We discuss the process and where we are so far in this journey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to 2025! Here is our first episode of the year and we continue with interviews with the Above and Beyond Award Winners. Tony Hodder, Victoria Boltsis and Aliaksandr Shamshur share some of their experiences in fire alarm and why they think they were awarded this prize. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this Year-End episode, I have asked a few of my past guests and also Suzanne Alfano, Executive Director fo the CFAA and Jordan Klemick, Current President of the CFAA, to give us some year end summary of what we are doing at the executive committee level and what we have planned in 2025. I was also able to bring on Cathy and Mark, who have been on the podcast in the past and have rolls within ch...

This is the first of a multi-part series where we wil feature an interview with each of the award winners of our technician's committee Above and Beyond Awards. Trevor Ritchie (Drapeau Fire) was the winner for the Eastern Chapter of Ontario and Woody Gradin (Troy Life and Fire Safety) won for the Saskatchewan chapter. They give us their insights on what fires them up (pun intended...) about the in...

Part 2 of the podcast on a behind the scenes of the CFAA board of directors and committees. This episode focuses on the technicians and how you as a tech can get involved, what the levels of membership in the CFAA look like, and other topics of interest to our technician members. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we take a look 'behind the curtain of the CFAA Boards and Committees and see how the sausage is made! We will dive into each of the committees and see how they all work together to make the engine run for the CFAA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is with Pery Zerbinos and we discuss some of the best use cases for AI (currently) and how it is shaping our future in fire alarm reporting and getting our work done. This podcast may be at the highest risk of being obsolete in a year! We will see... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week is a long-ish episode and is more of a discussion with Mark and Tom on what we have been discovering as we have started working wiht the new standards. We focus on the topic of deficiencies and how some parts are open to some interpretation. Would you like to come on the podcast? Send me a line at marketing@cfaa.ca Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is with Randy Panesar from Durham College and we go over where we were, where we are, and where we are going in education for fire alarm systems in Canada. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Mark and I discuss some of the definitions and parameters around 'what is a deficiency?' We will have more episodes to come on this very important subject, as this affects all of your work as a fire alarm technician and how you report and comment on things that 'aren't right'. Thanks again Mark for joining! 20 episodes down! If you would like to join me on the podcast, send an ema...

This week, we delve into the technical requirements of using Aspiration detection in an elevator shaft. With the new standards and the references to spot detectors being considered a deficiency if they are placed in elevator shafts (and other hard-to-access areas), we require better ways of doing fire detection in these spaces. Erik is one of the Field Application Engineers at Xtralis and provides...

This week's episode is all about door mag locks and how we test these devices as Fire Alarm Technicians. Ray was able to join us and go over this presentation that he did for the Central Ontario chapter earlier this year. Thanks for joining us, Ray! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk cable with Gabriel from Cerco Cable. He has a lot of information to share on the codes and types and cable that are used in Fire Alarm. Another great episode to use for reference for more knowledge on cabling. Gabriel can be contacted at: gsenechal@cercocable.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we talk to Steven Forrester, a building code consultant from New Brunswick. We delve into the terminology of performance-based design and how it can affect your inspections as a tech and what to look for in a building that may have some type of design modification from the building codes. Contact Steven at sforrester@valfor.ca Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have a profile on a great outreach initiative for young women interested in the Fire Protection industry! Camp Molly is discussed and the history and where they are headed with this program. Thanks Victoria for coming on to discuss. www.campmolly.ca For more info on the history and story of Molly Williams: http://shemadehistory.com/molly-wiliams/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

This week we have Frank on the podcast to discuss software tools to improve quoting speed and efficiency and general management of a fire alarm company using newer tools and AI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.