Number of Hamilton house fires deemed as arson nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023
Almost half of all Hamilton house fires last year happened in residences without working smoke alarms, city data shows.
Data provided to The Spectator showed that, out of the 228 residential structure fires last year, roughly 107 of them — or 47 per cent — took place in a home without operational smoke detectors.
The new data comes just weeks after a Hamilton landlord pleaded guilty in late January for failing to maintain a power supply that served smoke alarms in their Victoria Avenue North building. That property owner has been fined $8,000 for the violation.
Under Ontario's fire code, rental-property owners are responsible for ensuring smoke alarms in buildings — including units — are working and tested regularly.
In late December, two tenants were charged with fire-code violations in relation to a Hamilton Mountain townhouse fire that killed two adults and two children more than a year ago.
They face charges of failing to notify the landlord that a smoke alarm was disconnected or not working and with disabling a smoke alarm.
Under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, a person convicted of a fire-code offence can be fined up to $50,000 for a first offence or imprisoned for up to a year.
Data provided by the city showed that half of all house fires since 2018 have occurred in residences without working smoke alarms.
“It’s a very concerning number,” Chief David Cunliffe of the Hamilton Fire Department said in an interview with The Spectator. “It means there is a greater likelihood that we are potentially going to see residents being injured or killed.”
Cunliffe noted that blazes in homes are burning faster and hotter than they once did due to the items inside of residences as well as the materials they’re made out of, which are often synthetic.
Without a working fire alarm, the reaction time for residents is cut down dramatically, leaving them less time to escape without injury, Cunliffe added.
But what’s causing the fires?
According to the data, the top cause of house fires in the city since 2020 has been careless smoking, with more than 150 residences catching flame due to cigarettes.
A blaze at a Concession Street apartment in February 2021 that left a man dead and another critically injured was caused by careless smoking, however the smoke alarm in that unit was working at the time.
Following careless smoking, most other house fires have been traced back to electrical issues or cooking.
Arson is the fourth most common cause of house fires, with the number of arsons nearly doubling between 2020 and 2023, according to the data.
Cunliffe said the causes, which he described as “behavioural-based,” are “absolutely preventable.”
“All of those things are concerning,” added Cunliffe. “Folks are taking a significant chance that something potentially devastating could happen to them.”