A tragedy in Brampton, Ontario, has prompted a reminder of the importance of having working smoke detectors in your home.
Two adults and three children between the ages of seven and ten were all killed in a house fire with a sixth person is in hospital in critical condition.
Moncton Fire Prevention officer Steve Richardson said this is a bigger problem than it should be, “Unfortunately, far too often, in fires where people are losing their lives, either smoke alarms weren’t there, or they weren’t working properly. It is so important to test them, change the batteries when you change your clocks in the spring and fall.”
He added, “Smoke detectors are such an inexpensive way to protect yourself. We can’t stress enough that working smoke alarms save lives. Some people will check their detector and won’t update it because it is only ten years old. How what did your car look like after 10 years? What did your stove look like after 10 years? Take your detector, take a look and see if there’s dust. If there are smokers in the house, there’s a lot of stuff that can stick inside the detectors. Keep them clean, make sure they’re working properly. Again, it’s such a safe way to it’s such a simple way to protect yourself.”
Richardson noted, in some cases families may have immigrated here, and may have never seen a smoke detector or understand the purpose of one, “Where they have come from, they may or may not understand what a smoke detector is all about because they’ve never seen them before. We go to great lengths to educate them when we have the opportunity to explain, this is what it’s for, this is what it does.”
Both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed their sympathies to the families for their loss.
The Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal has been called in to determine a cause for the fatal fire.
