Toronto Fire and Toronto Community Housing (TCH) are teaming up this month to cut down on the number of seniors dying due to fires in the city's social housing complexes, designating June as Fire Safety Awareness Month.
This follows two deaths between November 2017 and April 2018 at the same social housing building in Toronto's east end.
The men who died were both over 60, living at an unassisted community housing apartment at 145 Strathmore Blvd., near Danforth and Greenwood avenues.
Both deaths were caused by fires that started as a result of smoking.
"It's deeply troubling," said Kathy Milsom, president and CEO of TCH.
"Our commitment is to do absolutely everything we can, working with Toronto Fire, to make our buildings safe."
Death rates 4 times higher than general public
Fire Chief Matthew Pegg says on every Thursday of the month, Toronto Fire will visit TCH seniors' buildings for face-to-face education on fire safety.
Pegg says the initiative comes after a comprehensive budget plan was proposed to the city at the beginning of this year, which noted that the fire fatality rate within community housing buildings has been four times higher than the city at large for the past several years.
"Both Toronto Fire Services and Toronto Community Housing are determined to change that statistic for the better," Pregg said.
Toronto Fire asked for an additional $2,812,328 for 2018 fire-prevention resources.
"I hope something good can come out of something so tragic," said Coun. Mary Fragedakis, who represents Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth.
She worked with Toronto Fire through the budget process, and says the city will also be involved with the initiative, helping educate residents who don't speak fluent English.
"Some of the campaign that is going on this month is to communicate with people in their language of origin so we actually make sure they understand the information," Fragedakis said.
'Many of them have vulnerabilities'
"We recognize that we need to provide our tenants with support," Milsom said. "Many of them have vulnerabilities such as mental health issues and addiction issues."
Although Milsom says there was a 26 per cent decrease in community housing fires from 2016 to 2017, she pointed to the needs for more tenant awareness regarding cooking, smoking and potential safety obstacles.
"When we talk about people who might intentionally want to light things on fire, or might have addictions that make them more susceptible to potentially falling asleep while they're smoking, we want to make sure we're doing everything we can," she said.
She said TCH works with a variety of agents to try and "change those behaviours."
Majority of fires tenant-error
Milsom also says the majority of fires are the result of tenant behaviour, and aims to "help tenants to understand the risks associated with smoking."
Toronto Fire has appointed additional staff to maintain yearly inspections, and TCH has hired a full-time senior director of fire safety to assist in training staff.
Link to original article in CBC News: 'It's deeply troubling': TCH, Toronto Fire team up to prevent fatalities