'That day will stick with me for the rest of my life': Firefighter implores CO detector use

Peter Keith was on duty the morning OPP officer Laurie Hawkins was found clinging to life at home.

It was December 2008 when Keith joined emergency responders as they entered the Hawkins’ home to find Laurie, her husband Richard and their two children, Cassandra and Jordan. Each had been overcome by deadly carbon monoxide. John, Cassandra and Jordan were already dead. Laurie would pass away days later.

Keith says the call has never left him.

“That day will stick with me for the rest of my life," he recalls.

But since that tragic day, a lot has changed for the better when it comes to carbon monoxide awareness.

Legislation has made CO detectors mandatory outside sleeping quarters in Ontario, and Laurie’s family has taken up the cause of ensuring CO detectors find their way into every home.

Her uncle, John Gignac, a retired Brantford firefighter, started the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation. Since 2009 it has distributed over 25,000 CO detectors across Canada, free of charge.Acting Captain of the Woodstock Fire Department Peter Keith is seen on Nov. 1, 2022. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)

“The impact is kind of lessening on some of our new citizens," states Woodstock Fire Chief Jeff Slager. "So, it’s our responsibility to not that let go in vain, and get the education out there."“It’s like the accident happened yesterday, but it helps us to know Laurie didn’t die in vain.”

But as Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week begins in Ontario, Gignac says not all homeowners have heard the message to get a CO detector installed.

“Some people just don’t want to do anything to protect themselves,” he says. “I don’t know why. We’re trying to reach those people and I’ll keep doing it until I reach everybody.”

Part of the problem, even in Woodstock, Ont. where the Hawkins tragedy occurred, is the passage of time.

Members of the Woodstock Fire Department are seen with carbon monoxide detectors donated by the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation on Nov. 1, 2022. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)

Keith expresses the same message but in a much more personal way.

He says CO detectors work, citing multiple calls where alarms have done their job by alerting families to the deadly gas.

“We’ve had tons of near misses of what could have been,” he says.

More information on the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation can be found on the foundation’s website.