Count Greg Tennier a happy man.
Tennier lives in an older apartment building on Kincaid Street, not far from Burnaby City Hall. In June 2010, a third-floor apartment fire got Tennier thinking about how safe all his neighbours were.
Tennier knew that new revisions to the B.C. fire code meant all older apartment buildings needed smoke detectors, and that's when he found out that hallways are what are inside individual suites while corridors are what separate suites from each other.
After the June 10 fire, Tennier asked his landlord to put smoke detectors in the corridor, but he was told that because all of the individual rental units had their own individual smoke detectors, the corridor detectors would not be necessary.
This week, Tennier got good news, which he shared with Burnaby NOW readers.
"Monday morning saw work started to have a new fire alarm system installed in all three buildings, which, like I had asked, will be hooked up directly to the fire department," wrote Tennier in an email. "I'd like to thank you for your article ... (this) wouldn't have been possible without you."
Tennier's crusade went on for more than a year.
"We've got a lot of older people who live in the complex, and it would be nice if there were more smoke detectors, particularly in the hallway, sorry, corridor, by the elevators," Tennier told the Burnaby NOW last summer. "I guess the landlords are in compliance, but I think they can do more."
On May 1, 2010 every residential building built before 1979 had to have smoke alarms installed.
The new law allowed these owners to either install battery-operated smoke alarms or the more expensive hard-wired systems that have smoke alarms directly connected to a building's electrical system.
"I want to advocate for smoke alarms in buildings like we have here, namely wooden structures," Tennier said in a subsequent email last year. "I'm now taking the position that smoke alarms should be mandatory, especially in apartment complexes where seniors reside. The added fuel, like oxygen found in complexes such as these, and the mobility problems faced by some, make it all the more urgent to see the law amended to include seniors' residential buildings."
www.twitter.com/AlfieLau
