Rash of apartment fires has fire department reminding tenants to keep doors closed
The London Fire Department is reminding apartment dwellers to keep their doors shut to help prevent the spread of fire, and to have an escape plan in place for when one does take place.
It comes as fire crews have found themselves battling a rash of fires at multi-unit dwellings over the last several weeks.
“Fire does not wait,” said fire inspector, Chris Rennie, with the LFD.
In a tour of a Godfrey Drive apartment building where a fire took place last Saturday, Insp. Rennie pointed out the bedroom where the fire began, and explained how the fire was largely contained simply by keeping the bedroom door closed.
“And for this door to be closed it stopped the spread of fire,” Rennie said. “With the fire alarm in the building, that activated tenants to get out safely.”
He said last year’s message from the office of the Ontario Fire Marshall was ‘close before you doze,’ and he said it’s a message that has proven timely in 2022.
Closing doors to a unit also prevents fire from spreading down a main corridor, keeping others safe, said Insp. Rennie.
“When all the occupants left, of course, they shut their doors,” he said. “So we have no fire in any other units here. It was contained to there with the door closed, and the smoke spread in the hallway.”
Rennie adds that the same goes for exterior doors. While it may be convenient to keep them propped open for a time, Rennie says remember to shut them when you’re finished with your tasks.
Meantime, unlike the way houses are built, Insp. Rennie said apartment units have fire separation.
“So we compartmentalize each unit,” he said. “So this unit is fire rated, to protect and stop the spread of smoke and fire to the next unit. When you’re in an open house, especially nowadays with the open concept, that allows oxygen to entrain and allow that fire to grow faster.”
Most importantly, Rennie stresses having an escape plan, and having working smoke alarms.
“The last thing we want is injuries,” he said. “If we can prevent fires before they happen, that’s our goal — so please have a working smoke alarm.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Storage shed or shipping container? B.C. Supreme Court settles long-running bylaw dispute
A long-running dispute over whether a structure on a Surrey property violates a city bylaw that prohibits shipping containers on residential lots has been settled by the B.C. Supreme Court