Fire code charges laid against rental home owners

The Calgary fire department laid five charges Wednesday against the owners of a northwest house where a fire killed three tenants.

Akif and Bushra Amin, who own the rental property at 515-33rd St. N.W., have been charged under the Alberta Fire Code with:

• Two counts of failing to ensure each bedroom within a secondary suite has at least one window that meets the requirements of the Alberta Building Code.
• Two counts of failing to ensure that security bars on bedroom windows can be opened from the inside without the use of any tools or special knowledge.
• One count of failing to ensure that smoke alarms are installed by permanent connections to an electrical circuit and wired so that activation of one smoke alarm causes all smoke alarms to sound within both upstairs and downstairs units.

Each count carries a penalty of up to $15,000 and/or six months in jail.

Four people were pulled unconscious from the early-morning fire on Jan. 26.

Tiffany Cox, 19, Colleen Mantei, 23, and Jonathan St. Pierre, 19, later died from their injuries in hospital. A fourth woman was treated for severe smoke inhalation and released from hospital.

Fire officials determined that a space heater placed too close to a couch started the blaze. They said the basement suite's sole smoke detector was not working.

Earlier this month, the owners were charged with seven safety violations under Alberta's Public Health Act and Minimum Housing & Health Standards.