Provincial law requires smoke alarms
Every home and cottage in Ontario must have a working smoke alarm on every floor and outside all sleeping areas.
Homeowners |
If you are a homeowner, you must install and maintain smoke alarms on every storey of your home and outside sleeping areas. |
Landlords |
If you are a landlord, you must ensure that your rental properties comply with the law. |
Tenants |
If you are a tenant, you must contact your landlord immediately if you do not have the required number of working smoke alarms. It is against the law for tenants to remove batteries or tamper with the alarm in any way. Failure to comply with the Fire Code smoke alarm requirements could result in a ticket for $360 or a fine of up to $50,000.00 for individuals or $100,000.00 for corporations. |
Placement, maintenance and replacement |
Refer to the manufacturer's instructions when installing smoke alarms for information about correct placement, maintenance and replacement. |
Things to remember |
Remember to:
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Nuisance alarms |
Steam from the shower or cooking in the oven, stove or toaster can activate smoke alarms. Do not remove the battery. Instead, try moving the alarm to a different place or purchase a smoke alarm with a hush feature that will temporarily silence the alarm. For further information about dealing with nuisance alarms, visit Make It Stop. |
False and nuisance fire alarms to be invoiced |
When we are called to respond to a fire alarm and there is no actual emergency, a fee for service will be applied for repeated false alarms. In most cases, a written caution will be issued for the first offence. However, upon a second offence in a calendar year, an invoice will be sent to the property owner for a cost recovery of the response. Normally, at least two fire trucks are sent to fire alarm activations and these will be invoiced at $477.00 per hour per truck plus the costs of firefighters and HST. |
Common questions regarding alarm billing |
What is a preventable fire alarm?A preventable fire alarm is an unnecessary response caused by the activation of a fire alarm system or a part of the system through:
We classify false alarms as:
How is the fee for service calculated?The widely accepted standard rate for a fire truck response is set by an agreement with the Province of Ontario. In 2019, this rate is set at $477.00 per hour. This rate is subject to annual increases by the Province as well as HST. Two trucks are normally dispatched to a fire alarm activation so the invoice would be $477.00 plus HST times two, plus the cost of firefighter wages. Since we employ volunteer firefighters, these numbers can vary from incident to incident. Am I invoiced for every false alarm?Most property owners who install fire protection systems are conscientious and do not want us to respond unnecessarily. Beginning in January, 2018, for the first preventable alarm in a calendar year, we will send a warning notice to the property owner. No invoice will be issued at this point, with one exception (see below). An invoice will be sent on the second and any additional response to false alarms. Where a fire alarm technician who is working on a system fails to take precautions to prevent an unnecessary response, no warning notice will be sent. False alarms caused by this type of human error or negligence will result in an invoice being sent to the property owner on every occasion. It will be the property owner's responsibility to pursue any kind of recovery from alarm companies. Will there be any consideration given to property owners who make prompt repair to a faulty system?Yes. Where a property owner provides us with a copy of a paid invoice for repairs to a system within thirty days of the original incident, the fee will be completely waived. |
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