Comment 71174

By anon (anonymous) | Posted November 09, 2011 at 08:14:43 in reply to Comment 71126

My personal opinion is that at a minimum, exterior fire escapes should be made legal again. In 2001, there were 337 fire deaths in Canada. To put it into perspective, there were 2617 automobile related deaths (And some of those are also counted under the fire statistic). We would do better to save people's lives by getting them out of cars (or training them as better drivers) than by strengthening fire codes. (Not that we should pick and choose but we do need perspective sometimes)

Here's a thought experiment: Who is safer? A couple sleeping in their detached home in a third floor master bedroom with one interior staircase down to the second floor and one staircase down to the front door with a battery powered smoke detector? Or a couple sleeping in their 3rd floor apartment above a storefront with one interior staircase going to the front door and an external steel fire escape (whether stairs or ladder style) and an interconnected (and likely monitored) alarm?

What if the detached home is in a subdivision that is a good few km from a fire hall? Or further out of the city and a few dozen km from a fire hall? WHy are the fire codes more restrictive for apartments downtown that are a block from a fire station?

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