SCUGOG — Mark Berney just shakes his head.
A sampling of homes visited by his Scugog firefighters so far this year have painted a frightening picture of how some residents regard their safety when it comes to the use of provincially-legislated smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
As part of the Scugog Fire Department’s Alarmed For Life program, firefighters have focused on the northwestern side of the township, visiting homes on Scugog Line 12 and 14 as well as Blue Mountain Road.
Out of the 221 homes visited so far in 2018, the firefighters have been permitted to enter 67 and once inside they’ve had to install 37 smoke alarms, 10 carbon monoxide detectors and replaced 20 batteries.
“It’s terrifying,” said Berney, Scugog’s fire chief, of the “large majority” of homes that weren’t compliant.
Both types of alarms are now mandatory in Ontario households. In March 2006, the province implemented a new law that made smoke alarms necessary on each storey of a home as well as outside all sleeping areas. Eight years later, in October 2014, carbon monoxide detectors became mandatory near all sleeping quarters for all homes with fuel-burning appliances or an attached garage.
“Some of them didn’t have (the necessary alarms), or needed one of them or they had expired and needed replacing,” said Chief Berney of his firefighters’ canvassing of homes.
In one case, said the fire chief, there was a plastic ring on the ceiling where a smoke alarm was supposed to be but the device was tucked away in a drawer.
“Obviously the battery was going dead and it was chirping or they were cooking and it was making noise so they pulled it down and threw it in a drawer,” said Chief Berney with a sigh.
In cases where a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector are needed, firefighters will advise residents what is needed, get them to sign a waiver and then install the device. In return, the Scugog fire service asks residents to purchase a similar device and return it to the Port Perry fire hall in seven days.
About 50 per cent of those who are helped through the Alarmed For Life program keep up their end of the deal, said the fire chief.
The fire department, he continued, plans to issue reminder letters to those who haven’t returned an alarm.
The set fine through provincial legislation for not having a working smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector is $360 per missing device, or up to $50,000 for an individual or $100,000 for a corporation.
At this time, stressed Chief Berney, the fire department is not issuing fines for those found non-compliant through Alarmed For Life checks. However, he added, if the fire department is called to an address for an incident and the necessary alarms are not in place, tickets will be issued.
In 2019, after the next Scugog council is elected and in place, Chief Berney plans to step up the enforcement side of things and take a “firm stance” by recommending the township take steps to recover costs of the alarm program.
“If you’re a law-abiding citizen and one that can afford a smoke alarm, you shouldn’t have to inherently cover the cost of people who don’t, won’t or can’t,” said Chief Berney. “At council, I’m going to ask for the creation of a firm process of cost-recovery and put the costs of the program back onto the property owner.”
Typically, Scugog firefighters go out three times a week during the day to carry out Alarmed For Life program checks as well as during the daytime on weekends. They usually travel in pairs, arrive in fully-marked Scugog Fire Department vehicles and will be wearing a uniform.
There is no obligation on the part of the homeowner to let the firefighters in.
“The pressure is on them to convince you to let them in and check your smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and discuss fire safety with you,” said Chief Berney.
Some people turn away the firefighters because of privacy concerns or living conditions they don’t want to let the firefighters see, he explained.
The focus in 2018, said the fire chief, is on the more remote residences that are quite a distance from Scugog’s fire halls.
“If seconds count, we want to make sure the homes furthest from our fire stations have working smoke alarms,” he said.
There is also no set number of homes to visit as a stipulated goal.
“We’re aiming to get into your home. It’s not about knocking on a thousand doors, it’s about getting into homes,” said Chief Berney. “In past years we pounded on a lot of doors and left information but we didn’t necessarily go back. In a hundred homes, if we get in 10 we’ll go back to the other 90. Our numbers are down, but our goal is to get in the door.”
To stress the importance of the devices, Chief Berney tells two stories: one hypothetical, the other personal.
Say, for example, something goes wrong within an electrical receptacle box and a smoke alarm warns residents of the danger, supposed the fire chief. In that story, firefighters show up, determine the problem and then it’s fixed for $500 by an electrician.
“If the smoke alarm doesn’t detect that, your house is gone, maybe you’re out of your house for 18 months or maybe you perish — all because you didn’t put in a $20 smoke alarm,” said the fire chief. “You can save yourself the inconvenience of a large fire, you can save your property and you can save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Five hundred dollars versus replacing your entire home.”
The other story is just as scary.
During an ice storm in 2016, Chief Berney and his family were left without hydro for two or three days so they kept their home warm with a gas fireplace. When the power returned and his furnace started back up, the fire chief became alarmed when his carbon monoxide detector started chirping. He borrowed a neighbour’s detector to double-check the situation and confirmed that his furnace was faulty and was spreading carbon monoxide through his home.
“I’m just thankful we had it and scared of what could have been,” said Chief Berney. “It went off and it did its job.”
For more information about fire safety, contact the Scugog Fire Department at 905-985-2384.
Link to original article in Durham Region.com: 'Terrifying' number of Scugog homes don't have needed alarms