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Smoke, heat detectors needed in garages, York Region fire safety officers say

Movement afoot across York Region to have fire detectors put in garages following a number of dangerous blazes

Yorkregion.com
August 6, 2019
Jeremy Grimaldi

After the kitchen, what's the second most likely area of your home for a fire to start?

In more and more communities around York Region, and across the province, it’s the garage.

In Ontario, garage fires resulted in four fatalities and 91 injuries between 2015 and 2017.

Problem is that despite major efforts to improve fire safety -- including requiring smoke detectors in bedrooms, every level of the house, and even insisting that all new builds have strobe lights for the hearing impaired -- there's no requirement in Ontario's fire code that garages also contain smoke or heat detectors.

This may be a troubling oversight for many reasons, but mainly because if a fire should begin in a garage it can grow dangerously out of control without anyone inside the home knowing until it's too late.

“It has the potential to be very dangerous," according to Darren Lynch, the president of the York Region Fire Prevention Officer's Association (YRFPOA). "In garages, the fire can build and build so that by the time it gets to a detection device it can be a fast moving situation."

This is just what happened during two fires in Markham on July 26.

In one blaze, which occurred at about 11 p.m., investigators believe the fire began in the garage, sources say, it might have been caused by an electric vehicle that was charging.

As happens in 39 per cent of Ontario fires that begin in the garage, flames spread to the rest of the house.

The neighbour who called 911, Larry Smith, said he recalls watching the homeowner standing in front of his home in his underwear.

“He must have had to get out quickly,” he noted.

The other fire that day began in the garage and spread to the rest of the house, injuring one.

Days after the fire Mayor Frank Scarpitti was called out by Smith on LinkedIn.

He asked the mayor to not only survey the damage, but to take action in order to avoid similar incidents in Markham in the future.

Scarpitti responded publicly, admitting the fire was “concerning.”

“Markham Fire is working on introducing changes to the building code to include fire detection devices in garages,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, the investigation into the cause of this fire is ongoing.”

They're not the only ones worried about the potential result of these sorts of garages fires, which can be caused by a variety of issues -- charging e-bikes, cigarettes, mechanical tools, along with flammable liquids and chemicals.

“The contents of garages may result in fires that cause greater damage and present different challenges to firefighters than encountered during other types of residential fires,” said Vaughan Fire Chief Deryn Rizzi.

Ryan Schell, vice-president of the YRFPOA, saw the numbers and decided to take action in July, proposing heat sensors be required in all new builds throughout the province.

“The garage doesn't stick out like it used to, the lots are smaller and it's built into the home now with rooms above,” said Schell, who is also chief fire prevention officer at Central York fire, in Newmarket. “We have a solution and that's to give people early warning.”

Lynch agrees and explained he himself has witnessed some pretty close calls on the job.

“There have been close calls where people have had to evacuate and you say to yourself, well that was fortunate,” he said.

He explained that it's not good enough for individual cities to propose changes to their rules, considering those can be challenged by developers and builders, who have a good chance of winning.

Although there is no timeline for proposed changes, Schell said he's confident that like Manitoba and Europe, Ontario will update its code.

“I think there's a pretty good chance,” he said.