A coroner’s jury tasked with examining two residential fires that together killed seven people in East Gwillimbury and Whitby came back with 33 recommendations for firefighters, investigators and regulators Friday afternoon.
The jury recommended that the province and fire prevention officers conduct a widespread public education campaign concerning fire safety in “accessory apartments,” the importance of smoke detectors and their maintenance, and the speed at which some household fixtures can burst into flames.
The jury also recommended that fire inspectors be allowed to inform tenants when the units they are renting are not in compliance with the fire code.
They also want the province to develop a “red-flag” registry of properties with a history of fire code violations so that they can be targeted for extra scrutiny.
On Apr. 29, 2012, 19-year-old Benjamin Twiddy and his two friends Holly Harrison, 19, and Hollie Towie, 17 were in an apartment at 917 Dundas Street West in Whitby that caught fire. They were each pronounced dead due to smoke inhalation.
Firefighters at the scene said the smoke was so thick they could not see two feet in front of them. Twiddy was on the phone speaking to a 911 operator, but firefighters at the scene still could not locate him and his friends.
On March 29, 2013, Kevin Dunsmuir, 55, his wife Jennifer, 51, and their two sons Robert, 19, and Cameron, 16, were killed by smoke inhalation when flames and smoke reached an upstairs bedroom of their home where they were trapped.
The family was still alive when emergency crews arrived, but could not escape the bedroom in time.
In both fires, crews encountered delays getting to the scene.
The coroner’s inquest, which began in March, was tasked with examining each fire department’s response time to the scene and the safety measures in both homes, such as working smoke alarms and proper escape routes. It heard from first responders from both cases.
The coroner’s jury also recommended that municipalities work towards a “provincially integrated computer system” to help better coordinate the dispatch of 911 calls.
