BY BILL BRADLEY
It?s the law. Every residence in Ontario must have a working smoke alarm on every floor and outside all sleeping areas, according to the Office of the Fire Marshal of Ontario.
?We know working smoke alarms save lives but we know that 50 percent of fatal residential fires are in Ontario homes which do not have working smoke alarms. People living in those homes, including children, are at greater risk than those with smoke alarms that work,? said Doug Crawford, Deputy Fire Marshal of Ontario at a press conference at the Van Horne Fire Station in Sudbury Wednesday.
Crawford said that functioning smoke alarms have been required by law since 1998 outside all sleeping areas, but this week an amendment to the Ontario fire code mandates a smoke detector on every floor of the building.
?We know from experience that having one smoke alarm is not enough. If there was a fire on the ground floor where a fire starts, having a second smoke alarm there gives the sleepers upstairs extra time to evacuate the residence,? he said.
"In a fire, every second counts."
Crawford showed the audience a video that graphically showed a scene simulated from an actual fire situation. A fire was lighted by fire officials in a wicker chair downstairs and a video camera captured the results.
The downstairs smoke detector went off in 54 seconds after combustion. The upstairs smoke detector took 1 and a half minutes to go off. But in that time the fire had escalated so much that if that family had not escaped by the three minute mark no one would have survived.
In the real life case, without the downstairs smoke detector to provide early warning, the adults were able to escape but in the confusion, a young child got separated from the father and perished.
?The tragic story of that little boy is heart breaking. What happened is that he panicked and ran back up the stairs. We want to do everything we can to prevent tragedies in the future,? said Crawford.
Sudbury residents should be especially be concerned about fire safety during the holiday season and in winter months in general, said Sudbury Fire Chief Donald Donaldson.
"Taken together you have a serious risk. Do not forget about fire safety during the holidays and afterwards when the air in homes is typically drier and we spend more time inside,? said Donaldson.
Both Crawford and Donaldson said that fire services staff will aggressively enforce the new fire code regulations.
After March 1, 2006, for homeowners, tenants and individual landlords, non-compliance can result in a ticket of $235 or a fine up to $25,000 for individual landlords.
