When it comes to fire safety the last thing you want to be
is legal. Legal kills. The Titanic was legal when it sank with not enough
lifeboats for all taking about 1500 to their death. People died without smoke
and carbon monoxide detectors before they became mandatory. So you want to be
more than legal. You want to be safe.
Under Ontario’s fire code smoke alarms are required outside
all sleeping areas and on each other floor. Carbon monoxide detectors are required
near all sleeping areas in residences with fuel-burning appliances. That’s all
that is legal for owners of private residences.
Here’s what you probably should do. For starters aim for
two or more smoke alarms per floor. The reason behind this is it provides more
warning time that may save your life and your home. For example let’s take the
basement. If your smoke alarm is at the foot of the stairs and a fire breaks
out in the laundry room it takes precious seconds, maybe even a minute or more,
depending on the circumstances, for it to be detected. By having a smoke alarm
in the laundry as well as other places in the basement you get more warning.
The same goes for having one working carbon monoxide
detector on each floor. Again the principle behind this is more warning whether
asleep or during the day. The earlier the warning the better the outcome.
Here’s an excellent page on smoke alarms from the French
River Fire Department: http://www.frfd.ca/smoke-alarms.html and here’s a link to Ontario’s Carbon Monoxide
Alarm Questions And Answers: http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/FireMarshal/CarbonMonoxideAlarms/QuestionsandAnswers/OFM_COAlarms_QandA.html
Other things to consider, which aren’t legally required,
but advisable: Get a general purpose
extinguisher for each floor, plus a separate one able to put out typical
kitchen fires. My cousin was able to put out a small fire in his kitchen
because he had one. Get an escape ladder for upper floors. When building a new
house or retrofitting an old one consider adding a sprinkler system. This will
put out fires quickly once they start. A fire escape plan is also very useful
as well as fire drills, especially with children.
The best fire safety device is prevention. If you smoke
quit. Don’t leave cooking or candles unattended. Regularly maintain your
furnace and other fuel burning devices. Keep combustibles away from heaters,
stoves, toaster ovens and the like. Don’t overload electrical circuits and
maintain your wiring. Wiring usually wears at plugs, light switches and light
fixtures. Check them every few years to make sure the coating hasn’t worn. Dispose
of ashes from fire places and barbecues in metal containers after dosing them
thoroughly with water. This is not a definitive list, but it is a good start. Finally
if something doesn’t seem right fix it. The life you save may be your own.
