CHFM Fire and Life Safety 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Class K portable fire extinguisher is specifically designed to suppress fires involving which material?
- Combustible metals
- Cooking oils and fats (Correct answer)
- Ordinary combustibles like wood and paper
- Flammable liquids and gases
Correct answer: Cooking oils and fats
Class K extinguishers are designed for commercial cooking equipment fires involving vegetable or animal oils and fats.
Question 2: Under NFPA 99 (Healthcare Facilities Code), Category 1 medical gas systems are defined as systems where failure would cause which outcome?
- Minor inconvenience to staff
- Patient discomfort
- Patient death or serious injury (Correct answer)
- Equipment damage only
Correct answer: Patient death or serious injury
NFPA 99 Category 1 systems are those where failure of equipment or system is likely to cause major injury or death of patients or caregivers.
Question 3: What is the minimum fire resistance rating required for a 2-hour fire barrier wall in a healthcare occupancy?
- 30 minutes
- 1 hour
- 2 hours (Correct answer)
- 3 hours
Correct answer: 2 hours
A 2-hour fire barrier must achieve a minimum 2-hour fire resistance rating as tested and listed per applicable standards.
Question 4: Which organization publishes the Life Safety Code used as the primary reference by CMS for healthcare facility fire safety compliance?
- International Code Council (ICC)
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) (Correct answer)
- American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE)
Correct answer: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
NFPA publishes NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code), which CMS adopts by reference as the fire safety standard for certified healthcare facilities.
Question 5: How often must healthcare facilities conduct fire drills in each occupied shift according to NFPA 101?
- Once per year per shift
- Once per quarter per shift (Correct answer)
- Monthly on every shift
- Twice per year per shift
Correct answer: Once per quarter per shift
NFPA 101 requires health care occupancies to conduct fire drills at least quarterly on each shift, totaling a minimum of 12 drills per year.
Question 6: When evaluating a Statement of Conditions (SOC) finding related to a corridor width deficiency, which equivalency approach is permitted under NFPA 101?
- Waiver from The Joint Commission
- Equivalency through the use of a performance-based design (Correct answer)
- Variance granted by the State Fire Marshal
- No equivalency is permitted for corridor width deficiencies
Correct answer: Equivalency through the use of a performance-based design
NFPA 101 Section 1.4 permits performance-based designs as an equivalency when a prescriptive code requirement cannot be met.
Question 7: A hospital facility manager discovers that a fire door in a smoke barrier has a 1/4-inch gap at the bottom. What is the correct action?
- Document the deficiency and schedule repair within 30 days
- Immediately impair the smoke barrier and implement ILSMs (Correct answer)
- Request a waiver from the AHJ
- Repair the door within the next fire safety inspection cycle
Correct answer: Immediately impair the smoke barrier and implement ILSMs
A gap that compromises smoke barrier integrity requires immediate action: declaring the barrier impaired and implementing interim life safety measures until repaired.
CHFM Fire and Life Safety 4
A Class K portable fire extinguisher is specifically designed to suppress fires involving which material?