Firefighter safety is the focus of the Rea and Walter Act—a new bill introduced in the Ontario legislature by Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece on March 9.
The bill is named in honour of two North Perth Fire Service members, Ken Rea and Ray Walter, who lost their lives battling a fire in March 2011. If passed, the bill will help address one of the contributing factors in that tragedy: firefighters had no way of knowing the building used truss and lightweight construction.
“This is a common-sense proposal, and I’m optimistic MPPs of all parties will get behind it,” Pettapiece said. “It could even save lives.”
The bill would require most commercial and industrial buildings, as well as multi-family dwellings of three or more units (other than a townhouse), to display an emblem alerting fire crews to a building’s use of truss and lightweight construction.
“This is about making sure firefighters have the best possible information, as soon as they arrive on the scene. It will help them better assess the risk so they can decide how best to fight a fire,” noted Pettapiece.
The Rea and Walter Act is scheduled for debate and a vote in the legislature on April 6. If it passes at that stage, it will move on to a committee to consider amendments. If the government approves it, the bill will later come back to the legislature for a final vote.
For years, many firefighters have said that truss- and lightweight-constructed buildings should be identified. In 2012, North Perth fire chief Ed Smith brought forward a resolution at the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC) to petition the provincial government to make it mandatory that all lightweight constructed buildings be placarded. The resolution carried in May 2012. In September 2016, OAFC passed a resolution supporting Pettapiece’s bill.
“Firefighters in our area and across the province support this idea,” said Pettapiece, who first announced the bill in August of 2016.
