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Kawartha Lakes Fire And Rescue Taking A Zero-Tolerance Approach To missing Or Non-Functional Smoke And Carbon Monoxide Alarms

KAWARTHA LAKES-Fire officials say a local mother and child were lucky to escape a blaze on January 7th despite not having working smoke alarms in the home.

There were 133 fire-related deaths in Ontario in 2022, including the loss of young children and families in several communities across the province. A very high percentage of these fatalities occurred in homes without working smoke alarms.

Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue Service would like to remind homeowners that you can, and when appropriate, will, be charged for failing to install smoke alarms where required. Failure to comply with the Fire Codesmoke alarm requirements can result in a $360 ticket or fine of up to $50,000 for individuals or $100,000 for corporations.

“There is zero-tolerance for missing or non-functional smoke and carbon monoxide alarms,” explained Fire Chief Terry Jones, Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue Service. “Every home must have a working smoke alarm on every storey and outside of all sleeping areas. It’s important to test your alarms each month to ensure that they’re working. Planning and practicing a home fire escape plan is also a key part to your family’s safety.”

Officials say many Ontarians believe they have five minutes to evacuate a house fire but the reality is in most cases you have 60 seconds or less. Having working smoke alarms in your home is crucial when it comes to early fire detection and giving yourself and your family as much time as possible to get out of the burning building.

Responsibility for Smoke Alarm Installation:

Homeowners
It is the homeowner’s responsibility to install and maintain smoke alarms on every storey of their home and outside sleeping areas.

Landlords
It is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure their rental properties comply with the law.

Tenants
If you are a tenant of a rental property and do not have the required number of smoke alarms, contact your landlord immediately. It is against the law for tenants to remove the batteries or tamper with the alarm in any way.

 

 

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Pamela Vanmeer
Pamela Vanmeerhttps://www.kawartha411.ca/
Pamela VanMeer is a two time winner of the prestigious Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Award. Her investigative reports on abuse in Long Term Care Homes garnered international attention for the issue and won the Ron Laidlaw Award. She is a former reporter and anchor at CHEX News, now Global Peterborough and helped launch the New CHEX Daily, a daily half hour talk show. While at CHCH News in Hamilton she covered some of the biggest news stories of the day.

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