In response to the tragic fire that claimed lives within a seniors residence in LIsle-Verte, Quebec, CARP was asked by many media outlets to outline the history of long term care and senior residence fires across Canada, detail CARP’s past recommendations, and outline what CARP recommends in light of this most recent and horrific event in Quebec.
CARP’s past recommendations have included the need for more sprinklers, smoke detectors, fire alarms, evacuation plans and better staff safety training.
The existing patchwork of regulation on fire safety for seniors’ residences and long term care facilities across Canada are not acceptable. Here are some of the recent articles, video and radio interviews in which CARP outlined its recommendations and analysis on the state of safety regulation for senior and long term care residences in Canada:
Firefighters melt ice to retrieve bodies after Quebec blaze (Reuters):
CARP, an association representing the elderly in Canada, has long demanded that all such facilities install sprinklers, but said cost concerns have overridden safety needs.
“We’ve had these kinds of fires over the last three decades, inquest after inquest making these recommendations. Here we are today and we still don’t have … a national standard that’s enforced and fully funded,” said CARP spokeswoman Susan Eng.
An investigation by La Presse newspaper published on Friday found that 1,052 of 1,953 private seniors’ residences in Quebec have no sprinklers at all, and 204 of them, including the L’Isle-Verte home, had only partial sprinkler systems.
BBC on Quebec Seniors Home Fire and CARPs comments:
Preventing more retirement home tragedies – As rescue personnel continue to search through the rubble from a fire in a Quebec retirement home that has killed at least 10, Canadians are asking if more could have been done to prevent the tragedy. Susan Eng, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, writes that the government needs to require existing homes for seniors to retrofit sprinklers and take other fire-prevention steps: “All we hear from the provincial minister is that the home complied with existing regulations. So that’s okay then?”
How an Ontario seniors-home fire changed the rules on sprinkler safety (The Globe and Mail):
Susan Eng, vice-president of the seniors advocacy group CARP, wants other provinces to require operators of seniors homes to retrofit their facilities with sprinklers. But she also contends the Ontario government should move much more quickly than its current timeline. Cost, she said, should not take precedence over protecting lives.
Its a money issue. That’s why it stalled out since 1980, Ms. Eng said.
Some N.S. seniors homes still without sprinklers (The Chronicle Herald):
It is important for seniors and their families to ask questions about a facility’s emergency evacuation plans, Bill VanGorder, of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, said Friday.
What we do know is there are a variety of situations. It is really important that the senior themselves and their families understand what level of protection is in their own home, what systems are in place, and how well the staff (is) trained, said VanGorder in Halifax.
We would not want to see any residents depending only on sprinklers and that sort of thing. There have to be other systems in place. How do you move a person who is bedridden and cant move out of their bed. How are staff trained to do that?
Susan Eng, vice-president, advocacy, for the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, said safety standards and enforcement of those standards should be the same at seniors care facilities across the entire country.
The association will be pushing for that in light of the Quebec tragedy, she said Friday.
Why should it be different (in different provinces). It makes no sense, said Eng in Toronto.
Quebec fire has seniors advocates calling for stricter safety rules (The Globe and Mail):
The specifics building codes, fire codes, nursing-home regulations, retirement-home regulations are all provincial responsibilities, said Susan Eng, a Toronto lawyer and vice-president advocacy for CARP, a group that defends seniors interests.
Therefore, you’re going to have to look to provincial authorities to make the rules and enforce them but there’s nothing stopping them from adopting a common set of standards.
There are no uniform rules when it comes to safety. Last year, Ontario became the first province to have mandatory sprinklers in all retirement homes and long-term care facilities.
Its part of a series of new rules that came into effect on Jan. 1. Retrofitting old buildings, however, is still several years away.
We don’t have to have a patchwork, there’s no good reason the standards shouldn’t be identical across the country, Eng said
Eng said sprinklers are only part of the equation and that staffing levels are just as important.
The majority of the people at Rsidence du Havre were not mobile. Two people were on staff overnight, even though only one is required by law.
It was three floors, one elevator, two staff, do the math, Eng said. Its not going to work.
Quebec fire: rescuers battle through ice in search for bodies of 30 old people (The Guardian):
CARP, an association representing the elderly in Canada, has long demanded that all such facilities install sprinklers, but said cost concerns have overridden safety needs.
“We’ve had these kinds of fires over the last three decades, inquest after inquest making these recommendations. Here we are today and we still don’t have … a national standard that’s enforced and fully funded,” said CARP spokeswoman Susan Eng.
Sprinkler rules back on the agenda after deadly Quebec fire (The Globe and Mail):
Susan Eng, vice-president of the seniors advocacy group CARP, said requiring sprinklers in seniors residences is an important element in preventing deaths, but not the only measure needed. She said every bedroom should have fire alarms. Fire officials should also approve evacuation plans that include staffing requirements.
These fires are entirely foreseeable situations. They haven’t been rare, Ms. Eng said.
Video interviews
Susan Eng on CBC News, Making Seniors’ homes safer
Susan Eng on Evan Solomon’s Power and Politics, CBC, beginning at 31 minutes
Susan Eng on CBC The National, No sprinklers in L’Isle-Verte seniors home
Susan Eng on CTV National News
CARP Halifax chair Bill VanGorder on CTV interview video and web article, Deadly nursing home fire raises safety concerns
CARP Halifax chair Bill VanGorder’s quote for CBC News Nova Scotia
Radio interviews
Wojtek Gwiazda interviewing Susan Eng for Radio Canada International (Montreal, CBC Radio): Seniors residence fire Are seniors put at risk because of sprinkler costs?
