44 | Passive fire protection up to code SimplyFire’s teams are commissioned to install, maintain and check all fire-related systems and equipment to comply with the fire and building codes. T T Hugh de Lacy CONTRACTING SimplyFire Passive fire protection is a niche industry that has emerged since more stringent fire restrictions were placed on commercial buildings, and Hamilton’s SimplyFire Ltd is the go-to place for it in South Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taupo and Gisborne. With a staff of 19, SimplyFire’s teams are commissioned to install, maintain and check all fire-related systems and equipment to comply with the fire and building codes. “Passive fire protection is needed in, say, hotel complexes where they’ve got rooms beside each other with walls in between and an upstairs and a downstairs, and there are holes drilled through the concrete for drains and the like,” SimplyFire’s manager Lindsay Duffy says. “We go round and put collars and seals round those holes to stop smoke and fire getting through. “We do commercial properties – we don’t do residential buildings - from small multi-cell units to blocks of industrial workshops to multi-storey hotels and all sorts of public buildings ranging from hospitals and government offices to police stations, court-houses and even gaols.” SimplyFire was started by registered electrician and owner Steve Bradburn six years ago after he’d spent more than two decades in the fire protection industry. He holds certificates for Level Four Fire Detection and Alarm Systems, and Levels Three and Four Passive Fire Protection, as well as being an Independent Qualified Person (IQP) producer and statement author. Staff are trained by the suppliers of the products SimplyFire installs and services, and hold IQP status with local authorities to inspect fire protection systems for legal compliance. “Our main work is the installation of passive fire protection systems, including electronic and automatic fire alarms, and while we don’t hold our own stock of alarms we can source them for our clients.,” Lindsay Duffy says. In this regard the company has a mutually beneficial arrangement with Tauranga fire extinguisher and sprinkler supplier and trainer UltraFire Protection Ltd. “We support them and vice versa,” Lindsay says. SimplyFire also tests and services alarm systems monthly to ensure they comply with the terms of the buildings’ warrants of fitness. Because passive fire protection emerged as a niche industry only with the upgrading of the country’s building regulations and requirements over the past couple of decades, it tends not to be regarded as a core service yet in the building industry, Lindsay says. “It involves work that has to be done, and when you look at polytechnic students studying electrics or panel-beating or spray-painting, they know all about passive fire protection because it’s in the curriculum. “But when you look at the building side of things, it’s not till you delve deeper that you come across people who belatedly realise ‘Oh wow, I’ve got to put fire protection on the agenda’ almost as an afterthought. “Passive fire protection is not yet front and centre of builders’ considerations. “It’s under-promoted and it needs a greater focus put on it by the building industry at all levels so that it’s seen as a core requirement of the building agenda, not something that’s added on towards the end when the realisation hits that it’s needed for the building to be safe and legal,” Lindsay says. SimplyFire has been largely unaffected by Cyclone Gabrielle, other than having its work in Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty held up indefinitely. NEW ZEALAND’S PREMIER COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT COMPANY – NATIONWIDE Contact Argest for compliance designed for Facility Managers | 0800 ARGEST | www.argest.com Building & Compliance Whakanoa nga whare | Fire | Te Ahi Building Compliance Services • BWoF management – national/multi-site portfolios • IQP inspections • Remediation management • Contractor management Consulting and Programme Management • Compliance advice and audit services • Systems condition assessment and reporting • Passive fire compliance assessments and remediation management • Fire alarm upgrade programme management Fire Sprinkler Biennial Surveys and Inspections ISO 9001:2015 certified for the issue of BWoFs IANZ accredited for sprinkler surveys and inspections “We go round and put collars and seals round those holes to stop smoke and fire getting through.”
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