'Wake up' and ensure you have working smoke alarms, Guelph fire officials say

Ensure your home has working smoke alarms — that's the message from the Guelph Fire Department after three fires in a 24 hour period last week, including one that saw two women die.

Ontario Fire Marshal Jon Pegg said there were no working smoke alarms in the home on Edinburgh Road S. where the two women died after being injured in the blaze just after midnight on March 11. Two other people in the home at the time were able to get out of the house and were treated in hospital for minor injuries and smoke inhalation.

Pegg said there were 133 fatalities in 2022, the highest number on record.

"For the first few months of 2024, we're on a very similar trend and it's something that we really need to take seriously," Pegg said during a press conference on Thursday in Guelph.

"Please, please, please let this be the last day that your home is unprotected from fire."

Guelph chief fire prevention officer Tony Sabatini said he's worked for the department for 34 years and "we've had fires, numerous fires happening within a week, but within a 36 to 48 hour period? No."

 "I've never seen something as devastating as this in this city in the total time that I've been with the service," Sabatini said during Thursday's press conference.

Range in prices

Smoke alarms can be purchased at many hardware stores but there are also options for those who cannot afford them.

"If the budget will allow, you can get them for as little as $10 and they operate just as good as the ones that have all the fancy lights and flashes that are $50 to $100," Sabatini said. 

"If by chance the budget is that low, they can contact their local fire departments to see if in fact, they can assist in that regard."

He adds that once installed, they should be regularly tested. 

"What we're trying to do is make [smoke alarms] as reflexive as possible for people," Sabatini said. "No different than brushing your teeth twice a day. Certainly, we're not saying to test the smoke alarm twice a day but at least on a monthly basis by pushing that test button."

Smoke alarms have an expiration date of 10 years.

In-home program returns this summer

Sabatini said the fire department will be resuming their Home Safe Smoke Alarm program this summer where firefighters go door-to-door as an education initiative for residents. 

"People are busy. People have different things on their minds," he said. "We have to try and do a better job and be a little more proactive and try to get that messaging out there."

In 2006, it became the law in Ontario for all homes to have working smoke alarms on every level and outside all sleeping areas. Failure to do so can result in a $360 ticket or a fun up to $50,000 for individuals or $100,000 for corporations.

Sabatini said the aim of the Home Safe Smoke Alarm program isn't to penalize people who don't have working smoke alarms but to educate them.

"Yes it is the law, there are repercussions, there are consequences but not while we're doing this specific program," Sabatini said. "We're out trying to assist people to make sure they're safe with smoke alarms."

'I'm asking the adults to wake up'

Guelph Fire Chief Brian Arnold didn't mince words when expressing the importance of having working smoke alarms in homes. 

"I am pleading with our citizens to wake up. I'm asking adults to wake up," he said.

"We teach our children in schools and community organizations about fire safety and smoke alarms but our children do not drive to the hardware store. Our children do not make that smoke alarm purchase and our children are not installing and testing these alarms. Our children are vulnerable and rely on adults. I'm asking the adults to wake up."Arnold