Frequently Asked Questions - Fire Services

If you are the owner, or a business or person, that is occupying, or managing a building in Queensland you have legal obligations to ensure the safety of any person in that building in the event of a fire or other emergency. The managing entity (the entity responsible for the general access, or common areas of a building, e.g. the body corporate or Centre manager) is classified as the primary occupier.

Yes all building are required have a fire evacuation plan and diagrams in place.

Unless your building is over 25m in height, or you have over 30 employees, then you are not required to appoint a fire safety advisor. (BFRS2008 division 6 subdivision 2-34)

The short  answer is no, if you have a screen door in front of a fire door then it must be removed. Read more for a more detailed description 

Ref: Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990

A doorway in a Class 2 or 3 building MUST be protected if it provides access from a sole-occupancy unit to

1. a public corridor, public lobby, or the like; or
2. a room not within a sole-occupancy unit; or
3. the landing of an internal non fire-isolated stairway that serves as a required exit; or
4. another sole-occupancy unit.

This now affectively renders the fire door as a prescribed fire installation:

Occupier of building to maintain prescribed fire safety installations

1. The occupier of a building must maintain at all times every prescribed fire safety installation to a standard of safety and reliability in the event of fire.

The fire door now is required to be installed to the AS1905 and maintained to the AS 1851.

Ref AS1905.1-2006

Components for the protection of openings in fire-resistant walls

2.1.2 Self-closure

The doorset shall be self-closing or automatic. Automatic doorsets shall revert to selfclosing

on operation of a sensing device installed in accordance with the requirements of Clause 5.6.3

This affectively eliminates the door from being propped open for periods of times as it breaches the integrity of the self contained fire compartment.

Yes you can have a deadlock on your front door PROVIDING it meets the requirements detailed below. A dead latch is acceptable a deadbolt is not.

Ref AS1905.1-2006

2.1.2 Self-closure

The door set shall be self-closing or automatic. Automatic door sets shall revert to self closing on operation of a sensing device installed in accordance with the requirements of Clause 5.6.3

section 2.1.3.2 Self latching

Any bolt or function that could, in normal usage, render a door leaf non-self-latching shall not be incorporated.

NOTE: A non-self-latching bolt (e.g., a dead bolt) will prevent the door from closing if left protruding while the door is open.

unless they are a single dwelling house, being either a detached dwelling house or a town, terrace, row, villa or like house attached to another such house or other such houses only by a wall on 1 or more of its sides (BFRS2008 division 7 44.1 and 44.2 )

Yes all building are required to do a fire evacuation drill every 12 months

unless they are a single dwelling house, being either a detached dwelling house or a town, terrace, row, villa or like house attached to another such house or other such houses only by a wall on 1 or more of its sides (BFRS2008 division 7 44.1 and 44.2 )

We do require certain documents to be available to our inspectors for inclusion in the fire evacuation plan as  per BFSR(2008)  they are detailed as follows:

• Building Certificate of Classification
• Building Certification under Alternative Solution(if applicable)
• Copy of APPROVED building plans and Conditions
• List of Required Fire Safety installations
• List of Special Fire Services
• Training records (if applicable)
• Asset /Maintenance reports (if applicable)