A private member's bill at Queen's Park that aims to make carbon-monoxide detectors mandatory in Ontario homes is getting full support from Thunder Bay firefighters.
MPP Ernie Hardeman (PC, Oxford) first attempted to pass the private member’s bill in March. The legislature’s prorogation killed that attempt, but on Monday the MPP will try again.
Fire prevention director Brian Berringer said many people don’t have the alarms in their home because of its price.
"It goes back to the ‘it won’t happen to me syndrome,’" he said. "A lot of it is just lack of public knowledge. People need to know that there is a problem and that this could actually happen."
Regardless of why people don’t put the alarms in their home, the fire prevention director said that with or without legislation there is good reason to get a unit installed.
"We have had, a number of years ago, a fatality here and we’ve had a few people who have actually been poisoned," he said.
Currently, the carbon monoxide detectors are only mandatory in new homes.
