In January, Guelph-Eramosa fire and emergency services responded to 25 calls. There were eight medical calls, two false alarms, five carbon monoxide (CO) alarm calls, two pubic assist calls, four motor vehicle accidents, three mutual aid calls and one structure fire.
Mayor Chris White commented that it seemed odd that CO calls were up.
“Because it’s law to have a carbon monoxide alarm people are putting it in, they have been for a while in a lot of the homes,” deputy fire chief Richard Renaud explained. At that seven-year mark the device often fails. “People install them, throw the documentation in the garbage so when [devices] start making funny noises they don’t know what to do so they call us to help them.”
Councillor Louise Marshall asked about public safety announcements regarding CO detectors.
Renaud said talking about the expiration of CO and smoke detectors is part of the department’s public education. He also pointed out that even when detectors are tested they may not serve their function.
“We’ve had a couple of incidents where we’ve tested them they work well, even after the fire incident. I believe the one that we had this month we tested the alarm, they worked but they did not activate with the smoke so the test button worked but it didn’t work, which was a bit of an eye opener,” Renaud said. He suggested replacing detectors every 10 years.
