'Very frustrating': Officials say lack of working smoke detectors in Ontario homes a troubling trend

'Electrical explosion' sparks fire at building Fire crews are on scene investigating the cause of a major, five-alarm electrical fire at a Toronto apartment building.

A steady rise in the number of fatal fires in the province in recent years has prompted officials to launch a new public education campaign urging residents to test and maintain their smoke detectors.

Ontario will host the first ever “Test Your Smoke Alarm Day” on September 28 in an effort to reduce the number of fatal fires in the province.

According to the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM), there were 133 fire fatalities in the province in 2022, the highest that number has been in two decades.

To date, there have been 60 fatal fires resulting 66 fire fatalities in Ontario in 2023.

“Even though these figures are lower compared to this time last year, they do not represent a change in behaviour and are part of the trend that we are continuing to see. The majority of fatal fires we investigated between 2012 and 2021 had no working smoke alarms or no evidence of any smoke alarms,” Ontario’s Deputy Fire Marshal Nancy Macdonald-Duncan said at a news conference on Monday morning.

“This statistic is alarming given that smoke alarms have been legislatively mandated since 1997, over two decades ago.”

The OFM is currently investigating a fire in Toronto and one in Vaughan that resulted in the deaths of three people. She noted that there were no working smoke detectors in either of those residences.

“A working smoke alarm provides early detection and the precious time needed to escape a fire. A working smoke alarm is only part of keeping safe in the event of a fire,” she said.

“Knowing how to escape is the next more important part.”

As part of Test Your Smoke Alarm Day, in addition to testing smoke detectors, Ontarians are encouraged to develop and test out their home fire escape plan.

“So many of the deaths we see could have been prevented with the installation and regular maintenance of smoke alarms and having a home fire escape plan,” Macdonald-Duncan said.

Acting Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop, who also attended Monday’s news conference, told reporters that 59 per cent of single-family homes investigated by Toronto Fire Services in the last five years were found to be without working smoke detectors.

“The City of Toronto for the last number of years has taken and adopted a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to discovering homes without smoke alarms,” he said.

“The position of the Toronto Fire Service is when we attend and we do not find smoke alarms in the residence, the owners will be charged.”

Macdonald-Duncan said that officials have launched various public education campaigns over the years to try to get the message out about the importance of smoke detectors.

“Unfortunately, as the numbers state, we haven’t been as successful as we’d like to be.”

“It is very frustrating… We expose our staff every day to these fatal fires.”