Fire Watch Is Not Just “Someone Walking Around”
June 30, 2026
“Just put someone on fire watch.”
That sentence sounds simple until you ask the next question:
Doing what, how often, where, with what authority, and writing it down where?
That is the part people miss. A fire watch is not supposed to be a warm body drifting through the hallway every so often, hoping nothing interesting happens. When a fire alarm system, sprinkler system, or other fire protection equipment is shut down or otherwise not protecting the building the way it normally does, the risk has changed. The response has to change with it.
In Ontario, the cleaner way to think about fire watch is this:
A fire watch is commonly used as an alternative measure for occupant safety while normal fire protection is unavailable.
Not theatre. Not vibes. A procedure.
The Ontario Fire Code anchor
The Ontario Fire Code does not need to turn “fire watch” into a casual phrase for it to matter.
For buildings and premises covered by Division B, Section 2.8, the Fire Code requires a fire safety plan. That plan has to be prepared, approved, implemented, kept in the building or premises in an approved location, reviewed as often as necessary and at least every 12 months, revised when needed, and implemented after revision.
The important line for this topic is OFC Sentence 2.8.2.1.(2)(h). The fire safety plan must:
provide for alternative measures to be provided for the safety of occupants during a shutdown of any or all fire protection equipment or systems.
That is the practical home for fire watch in many buildings.
If the fire alarm system is down, a wing of the building is unprotected, sprinkler protection is out of service, or construction/demolition work changes the fire risk, the answer is not “hope everyone notices smoke quickly.” The fire safety plan should already describe what temporary alternative measures are used to keep occupants safe.
A fire watch may be one of those measures.
Why “walking around” is not enough
Walking is only the movement. It is not the procedure.
A proper fire watch needs answers to basic operational questions:
- What area is affected?
The whole building, one floor, one wing, one mechanical room, one riser zone, or one construction area?
- What protection is unavailable?
Fire alarm detection? Audible notification? Monitoring? Sprinklers? Standpipe? A local device group?
- Who is assigned?
The Fire Code requires supervisory staff to be instructed in the fire emergency procedures described in the fire safety plan before they are given responsibility for fire safety. Fire watch should not be handed to someone who does not know the building, the emergency procedure, or what they are expected to do.
- How often are patrols required?
Do not guess. Follow the approved fire safety plan and the local fire department or Chief Fire Official direction. Public Ontario examples use specific intervals, but there is no single province-wide patrol frequency that applies to every building and every impairment.
- How is an emergency reported?
If the impaired system would normally detect, sound, transmit, or help manage the emergency, the temporary procedure needs a reliable communication method.
- How are occupants warned or moved?
The fire safety plan has to address emergency procedures such as sounding the alarm, notifying the fire department, instructing occupants, evacuation including provisions for persons requiring assistance, and related fire emergency duties.
- What gets recorded?
If the fire watch is part of a Code-required operational procedure, approved fire safety plan, or AHJ direction, treat the log like it matters — because it does.
That last one is where the clipboard earns its keep.
The log is not decoration
The Ontario Fire Code has a general record-keeping rule in Subsection 1.1.2. Where the Code requires tests, corrective measures, or operational procedures to be carried out, records must be made noting what was done and the date and time it was done. Those records are retained at the building premises for examination by the Chief Fire Official. Electronic records can comply if they can be made readily available on request.
Subject to specific exceptions, required records are generally kept at the building for at least two years, with the most recent and immediately preceding record retained.
That does not mean every random note someone makes is magically a Code record. It does mean that when a fire watch is required by the approved fire safety plan or directed by the AHJ as the temporary safety measure, the documentation should be treated seriously.
A useful fire watch log should normally make it clear:
- when the system or area went out of service,
- when the fire watch started,
- who was assigned,
- what areas were patrolled,
- start and finish times for rounds,
- what was observed,
- what was done about problems found,
- who was notified, and
- when the system was restored and the fire watch ended.
Boring? Absolutely.
Useful when the Chief Fire Official asks what happened? Very.
Local procedures can be more specific
This is where owners and contractors need to be careful.
The Ontario Fire Code gives the fire safety plan requirement and the alternative-measures requirement. The exact fire watch procedure for a specific building can come from the approved fire safety plan, the local fire department, the Chief Fire Official, institutional policy, or site-specific direction.
Public Ontario examples show the pattern. A University of Toronto fire watch log tells assigned personnel to follow the Fire Safety Plan, patrol unprotected areas every hour, record each round, keep records for two years, and notify Toronto Fire Service if the fire watch will exceed 24 hours.
That is an example, not a universal Ontario patrol interval.
The controlling question is always:
What does the approved fire safety plan and local AHJ require for this building, this system, and this shutdown?
What owners should ask before accepting “we have fire watch”
If you are an owner, property manager, site supervisor, or contractor, do not stop at the phrase.
Ask:
- What system or equipment is impaired or shut down?
- What area is no longer protected normally?
- Where is the approved fire safety plan procedure for this?
- Who authorized the fire watch?
- Who notified the fire department, monitoring station, occupants, or site supervisors where required?
- Who is assigned, and have they been instructed?
- What patrol interval applies?
- How will an emergency be reported if the normal system cannot do its job?
- Where is the log kept?
- Who confirms the system is tested, restored, and the fire watch can end?
That list is not fancy. It is the difference between “someone is around somewhere” and “we have a temporary safety procedure in place.”
The one-line takeaway
A fire watch is not just someone walking around.
It is an assigned, documented, temporary risk-control measure used when normal fire protection is unavailable — and in Ontario, it should be tied back to the approved fire safety plan and the local fire department or Chief Fire Official direction.
The clipboard is not the fire watch.
The procedure is.
Need help understanding what applies to your building?
Fire watch requirements depend on the building, the system affected, the approved fire safety plan, and local AHJ direction. If you are sorting out a fire alarm shutdown, impairment procedure, or inspection record question, ask Codebook Carl for clause-level guidance from the Ontario Fire Code and Canadian fire alarm standards.