Yvon Glaude is being hailed as a hero landlord, after a fire in east-end Cornwall on Thursday night.
And by no less of an authority on the subject than Cornwall fire chief Pierre Voisine.
There were working smoke detectors in all four units of the four-plex, and the chief said that’s why the lone occupant of 216A on Carleton St., a 75-year-old man, was able to walk out, despite a fire that caused extensive damage to the unit.
“Firefighters are often celebrated when they pull someone out of a burning building, and here we have an owner who made sure the building was up to code – that is as heroic as anything,” Voisine said on Friday morning, standing beside the building that sustained the fire around 6:30 p.m. the night before.
The blaze was a stove-top fire in the kitchen of the one-bedroom apartment.
“The occupant was cooking, and he fell asleep (in an adjacent living area), but there were two working smoke alarms and that’s what woke him up, that’s why he got out safely,” Voisine said. “Working smoke alarms are so vital.”
So often, there are no working smoke alarms in residences.
“We see it everywhere, not just in Cornwall, but in every province in the country,” Voisine said. “In any fatality caused by a fire, almost always there is not a working smoke alarm.”
Glaude, 34, said he’s owned the four-plex for four years, that it’s one of several income properties he has, and that he takes his fire safety duties to heart.
“I’m serious about it,” he said. “I learned from someone who experienced it in a negative way, (and) it’s not a joking matter.”
In the building on Carleton Street, Glaude said there a total of 12 smoke detectors in the four apartments, as well as carbon monoxide detectors.
Glaude said each year he tests the batteries in the detectors, and their functionality, and that tenants sign a report that he’s complied with the requirements.
Thursday’s fire gutted the one apartment. The unit below was partially flooded during the firefighting efforts, there’s no power or gas to the building, and a total of nine residents are currently displaced.
But they were all able to walk out, and all pets were saved, and the building was insured, so Voisine is considering it a good-news story, largely because of Glaude’s attention to smoke-detector detail.
“The owner took care of this building, and that saved the life of an occupant,” Voisine said.
Cornwall senior fire prevention officer Terry Lauzon walked media members up the stairs and into the unit where the blaze occurred on Friday morning, and also touched on the theme of smoke detector importance in explaining how quickly the fire grew.
The occupant turned on the wrong burner on the stove at dinner time, and other items that were on the stove caught fire while the gentleman retreated to a living area of the apartment, assuming his dinner was cooking.
“The heat and smoke within (four to five minutes can be lethal),” Lauzon explained, saying that the temperature would have risen to over 426 C (800 F) at head level.
At that temperature, Lauzon said, a breath or two would sear a person’s lungs, and there’d be no escaping the blaze.
But because the smoke detectors went off, the situation didn’t get to that point, at least while the man was still inside.
Voisine said after going to the living area the man was a bit groggy and fell asleep, but was awakened quickly by the alarms.
“The tenant got up and notified the other residents of the building to get out,” Voisine said. “He tried to put the fire out but he couldn’t.”
The Cornwall Community Police Service was in the neighbourhood at the time and was first on scene. Voisine said the fire department was on scene within three minutes of the call coming in. A total of 13 firefighters were on scene, the first arriving from the east-end Station 2.
“Our crew did an excellent job of containing the fire to one unit,” Voisine said. “It just shows you how important response time is.
“And how important smoke detectors are.”
Link to original article in the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder: Cornwall landlord hailed as a hero after fire at Carleton Street four-plex