THUNDER BAY – Fire Chief John Hay says he’s blaming irresponsible actions in part for a spate of recent fire-related deaths in the Thunder Bay area.
The first of four recent fatalities occurred on Oct. 15 at a townhouse on Trillium Way. Two more died in a mobile-home fire on Oct. 28 and the most recent happened on Nov. 3 on Walkover Street.
Hay said there’s simply no excuse not to have a working smoke alarm in one’s home.
“The cluster of fire deaths has us concerned,” Hay said on Wednesday, making an appeal to local media and the public to get the fire-safety message out.
“One of the biggest concerns is about the fire protection, fire detection and code compliance within those properties. We’re very concerned because some of it wasn’t up to code.”
Hay, who was unable to go into much detail about individual incidents because they’re still under investigation, said it was clear that smoke detectors were not operational or compliant in at least a couple of cases.
“So they would not have worked in a manner that would have been helpful getting those folks out. So we’re very concerned,” Hay said.
“Some of it is still under investigation and certainly the fire marshal’s office will be going over it and trying to determine what state the smoke detectors were in. But there were some that were obvious by their absence and obviously absent by their position and age. The smoke detectors were too old, with batteries in them placed in the wrong place.”
As a result, the fire department intends to ramp up its education program, including canvassing neighbourhoods where fires occur to remind residents that not only do fire detection devices save lives, it’s also illegal not to have a working one installed in one’s home.
“We’ve been doing smoke-detector programs, we’ve been doing public education in a much bigger way than we have and that was, we thought, working well,” Hay said. “We had a severe reduction in the number of fire deaths. Not having a smoke detector, that’s just irresponsible.
“But now we want to work with people. We want to work with landlords, with tenants about the need. Landlords have a responsibility to ensure there are smoke detectors. Tenants have a responsibility to the landlord to make sure they’re not taken down or the batteries aren’t taken out or if they’re not working properly to tell the landlord.”
In Ontario, smoke alarms are required on every level of a home and outside all sleeping areas. Carbon monoxide detectors are required outside all sleeping areas if one’s home has a fuel-fired appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage.
Hay said Thunder Bay Fire Rescue has programs available for seniors and those who can't afford detection devices and encouraged the public to phone the fire department's non-emergency number for more information.
Link to original article in Global News: Fire deaths largely result of irresponsible behaviours: Fire Chief