Ontario Fire Marshal's office, local fire chiefs stress importance of working smoke alarms following recent fatalities

Vaughan enforces strict rules requiring working smoke alarms, but some people still not getting the message

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 28, 2023
Brian Capitao

A lack of working smoke detectors is setting off alarm bells for fire officials.

To date, there have been 66 fire fatalities in Ontario as a result of 60 fatal fires across Ontario -- and the numbers keep growing.

Last year, there was 133 deaths across the province, the highest number in two decades.

On Monday, Aug. 21, the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office held a news conference in Toronto to highlight the issue.

“Even though these figures are lower compared to this time last year, they do not represent a change of behaviour and are part of a trend we're continuing to see,” said Nancy MacDonald-Duncan, Ontario’s deputy fire marshal.

“It’s our goal to reverse the trend, and to raise awareness of how impactful a working smoke alarm could be to you and your family's safety. Heading into the fall and winter months, we typically see a rise in fire deaths and our high number of fatalities in the year,” she said.

Ontario’s deputy fire marshal was joined by Vaughan’s deputy fire chief, Mike Doyle, to help spread a message of awareness regarding smoke alarms.

“It's an important day for an important message. And working smoke alarms really, frankly, shouldn't be the message today. But it is. And for some reason, the residents around Ontario aren't getting the message,” said Doyle, deputy fire chief for Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service.

Doyle pleaded with Vaughan residents and Ontarians alike to take the issue of fire safety seriously.

“We can pick up the pieces of fires. We can rebuild. We cannot rebuild lives,” said Doyle in a presser.

Vaughan, like Toronto, has a zero-tolerance policy regarding not having a smoke alarm.

“Also, in Vaughan, we have a zero-tolerance policy on working smoke alarms. We can't legislate our way out of this, unfortunately, because it's too late,” he said.

The concern of a lack of smoke alarms was again reiterated by Toronto’s deputy fire chief, Jim Jessop.

“I do want to confirm that in the last five years, 59 per cent of all single-family homes at the Toronto Fire Investigations Division have investigated, often in collaboration with their partners at the Office of the Fire Marshal, 59 per cent of them had no working smoke alarms,” said Jessop.

“That is why the city of Toronto, for the last number of years, has taken and adopted a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to discovering homes without smoke alarms,” he added.

Fines have previously ranged from between $5,000 to $10,000 for households on a first offence and up to $100,000 for businesses, according to MacDonald-Duncan.

On Sept. 28, Ontario will host its first ever “Test Your Smoke Alarm Day” to reduce the number of fatal fires provincewide.