Landlords charged with safety breaches after fatal fire

The owners of a rental home where three people died in a basement fire have been charged with seven safety violations.

Inspectors who went through the rental property at 515 33rd St. N.W. found breaches of Alberta's Public Health Act and Minimum Housing & Health Standards, officials said Wednesday.

Akif and Bushra Amin, who own the house, face seven charges including:

• Failure to ensure housing premises were in safe condition.
• Failure to ensure required smoke alarms were operational and in good repair at all times.
• Failure to ensure that security bars on bedroom windows could be opened from the inside without the use of tools or special knowledge.
• Failure to ensure that all electrical outlets, switches and fixtures were maintained in good and safe working condition.

The landlords were also cited for breaches in relation to obstructed bedroom windows, to interior stairs that were not in good repair or in compliance with the provincial building code, and to general nuisance and sanitation.

CBC News tried to contact the owners, but there was no answer at their Springbank home.

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.

The fire department determined that a space heater placed too close to a couch started the blaze.

Fire investigators said the only smoke detector in the basement suite was not working. They also said they would be looking at what role, if any, security bars on some of the windows played in preventing the tenants from escaping.

"This is an unfortunate tragedy that highlights the need for landlords and homeowners of rental properties … to know the regulation and standards they're governed by, and that those minimum standards are in place to protect the health and safety of Albertans," Chad Beegan, the Calgary Health Region's acting manager of environmental health, told CBC News.

The Calgary fire department continues to investigate possible violations of the Alberta Fire Code, and said it plans to wrap up its probe early next week.