'One more minute may have been too late': Working smoke alarm saves Malahide family, and their home

The Wall family and their home were saved by the beep.

“I was going to make breakfast, and I put the frying pan on the stove and opened it and remembered I needed something from No Frills,” said Frank Wall, who lives just north of Aylmer, Ont.

“I quickly went shopping and forgot to turn it off. That's where the fire started.”

The sound of the smoke alarm woke up his wife, who quickly told their adult son, who put out the fire.

Wall was lucky, but also prepared with functioning detectors.

To ensure others are as fortunate, Kidde has made a substantial donation to Malahide Township.

“Statistics show that working smoke alarms double your chance of escaping a fire safely,” said Stephanie Berzinski, Kidde’s fire safety educator.

“To support Kidde’s dedication to helping communities, we are donating $20,000 worth of smoke alarms to Malahide. These are being donated to Malahide Fire Emergency Services for installation into [the] homes of families who need them.”

Fire Chiefs from Elgin County, along with representatives from Kidde and the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal pose with a $20,000 donation of smoke alarms to Malahide Township (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

Malahide Fire will be continuing their door-to-door program, and checking to see who needs a new smoke alarm. There is also a plan to put a dedicated spot on their website for those who need a new detector, and fire officials will come and install it for you.

“We found there was a lot of people that didn't have them,” said Malahide Fire Chief Jeff Spoor.

“People have expenses in their lives, and this often gets lower priority. We have just about 10,000 people in the township here, and this will help tremendously make sure that everybody in town has one.”

Kidde donated $20,000 worth of working smoke alarms to Malahide Township (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

It was less than a week ago that a woman lost her life in a fire in east London, Ont.

That brings the total number of fatal fires to 75 in Ontario in 2024, which have resulted in 83 deaths.

That number is more than the same time in 2023, and officials say we are approaching the season which results in more fire-related deaths.

“It could be many things that cause them,” said Aman Kainth, senior manager of public education for the office of the Ontario Fire Marshal.

“Maybe they are not checking their smoke alarms - because only working smoke alarms save lives. We need to ensure that we are checking things at home, Test those smoke alarms at least once a month. Check the batteries in them, and if you have had a smoke alarm for more than ten years, swap it out.”

The message comes just a few days ahead of the national day of action to test your smoke alarms.

“Saved By the Beep” is Saturday Sept. 28.

“Saved by the Beep” is a fire campaign designed to alert the public to test their smoke alarms on September 28, 2024 (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“It's about testing your alarm, replacing the batteries if you need to, replacing the actual device if you need to,” said Kainth.

“It takes about three seconds. Just push that button, to ensure that their family is safe.”

It’s important. Just ask Frank Wall.

“Maybe one more minute and then it would have been too late,” said Wall.