Fire official finds non-compliance an issue during home inspection-pizza blitz

By: Liz Dadson October 15, 2016 1172

Fire official finds non-compliance an issue during home inspection-pizza blitz

Kincardine firefighters have discovered that when it comes to proper fire prevention equipment in the home, people are more interested in just purchasing their pizza and hunkering down on a Friday night.

Fire prevention officer Shane Watson was joined by four of his fellow firefighters in a home-inspection blitz in association with Boston Pizza, part of Fire Prevention Week which ended Saturday.

The idea was for the fire truck to follow the pizza delivery van and ask if the firefighters could inspect the home for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. If compliant, the homeowner would receive his pizza order for half-price. The event ran from 5-8 p.m. Friday.

Out of eight deliveries, the firefighters were able to inspect five homes, said Watson.

"One house had all of the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms either missing or expired," he said. "Another house had a smoke alarm missing because it would always beep even when the battery was changed. This could be because of high humidity areas in the home. It was recommended that the homeowner get a photoelectric smoke alarm which handles humidity better. This home also had a missing carbon monoxide alarm."

Watson said another house had a missing smoke alarm on the top floor. The homeowner did not know that there should be a smoke alarm on every level of the home. There was also no carbon monoxide alarm at this house.

"We had only one compliant house," said Watson, "and I attribute that to it being newly-constructed. It had dual smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms on each level."

He said the evening was well-received by Boston Pizza, the public, and the firefighters involved.

"I believe we should run this event every year," he said. "One, because it was fun for everyone involved; and two, for improved public education about the importance of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in the home."