By Spencer Sterritt

Only 1/4 working smoke alarms in Nanaimo: fire dept.

Mar 2, 2017 | 11:43 AM

NANAIMO — There are smoke alarms in nearly every house in Nanaimo, but how many of them actually work?

According to the new 10-15 year fire plan presented to city council on Monday, Feb. 27, only 27 per cent of the homes firefighters responded to between 2013 and 2015 had a working smoke detector.

Fire Chief Craig Richardson said they’re “definitely” concerned about the low number.

“It’s very concerning because smoke alarms are obviously the best warning device,” he said. “If people are alerted by a working smoke alarm in the event of a fire, they have a much greater chance of escaping themselves and notifying the fire department.”

Raising awareness about how crucial smoke detectors are is a major component of the After the Fire program aspect of the plan.

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Richardson said they’ll visit houses in high-frequency incident areas to promote fire safety, such as making sure the smoke detectors in the house aren’t merely for decoration.

Ensuring people know what to do in case of an emergency, after the smoke alarms have gone off, is also touched on in the plan.

The second prevention topic is increasing the number of residents familiar with bystander CPR, which Richardson said can significantly boost survival rates.

“I think one of the things that sometimes causes people to not want to engage and do CPR is the fact they feel that mouth to mouth resuscitation is part of it,” he said. “In fact, studies have shown that bystander CPR, which is chest compression only, is virtually as effective.”

Earthquake and disaster preparedness is the third topic discussed in the plan.

-with files from Ian Holmes

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit