B.C. sees 'very concerning increase' in fires and fire-related deaths amid pandemic

Five-year-old Enzo Wilson died from severe burns he suffered after a fire ripped through his family’s Duncan, B.C., home on Halloween in 2021.

The little boy was one of 11 people on Vancouver Island who died from house fire-related injuries in the last year.

Three of those deaths were from house fires in Victoria — including a fire at an apartment complex in James Bay, also in October.

Overall, 59 people died from house fire-related injuries in B.C. in 2021, a significant spike and a disturbing province-wide trend that was revealed by B.C.’s Fire Commissioner, Brian Godlongton, on Wednesday at a press conference at the B.C. Legislature.

"Over the last few years, we’ve seen a very concerning increase in fires," said Godlongton.

That increase has sparked a new fire prevention tool that was announced Wednesday — a dashboard created through a partnership between Statistics Canada and B.C.’s Fire Commission.

The dashboard will track and show where fires are striking so resources can best be deployed.

Langford Fire Chief Chris Aubrey said Wednesday that the new dashboard, which is being rolled out as a pilot project in several B.C. communities this summer, will be a helpful tool.

"[We'll] track what issues are specific to their communities, and be able to tailor education programs and initiatives to be able to combat those," he said.

HOUSE FIRE CAUSES

There has indeed been plenty of fires to combat since the pandemic began.

In 2021, house fires in B.C. increased by 33 per cent from 2019, and deaths from those house fires were up even more — an astounding 119 per cent in 2021, over 2019.

Those house fires were mainly caused by cooking equipment, smoking materials and open flames, said Godlongton.

The fires came during a time when more people were spending time at home, including working from home, because of the pandemic.

"We can largely attribute this increase of injuries and deaths to people spending more time at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

The pandemic problem hit the island — and notably Victoria — where there was a 40 per cent increase structure blazes in 2020, according to Victoria’s Acting Fire Chief, Dan Atkinson.

"Lack of eating out at restaurants," Atkinson said, noting more people were at home and restaurants were largely shuttered at the start of the pandemic.

"Where we saw that big increase was unattended cooking," he said.

ARSON AND SMOKE ALARMS

Also on the rise are arson cases, like the still unsolved one in Victoria’s North Park neighbourhood this spring, which forced a Ukrainian Catholic priest and his young family to flee their home.

"Certainly an issue, certainly an increase in that," said Godlongton about arsons being on the rise in B.C. and across Canada.

Another worrisome factor revealed Wednesday is that no working smoke alarms were found in nearly half of the homes where a fire was reported over the past two years.

"It is concerning, we do go to a lot of calls and find the smoke alarm isn't working," said Aubrey.

"Simply having a working alarm in your house improves your life safety by 74 per cent," he said.

The pilot project begins this July, and will be expanded the following year.

With 33 deaths from house fire-related injuries in B.C. already this year, including two on Vancouver Island, the hope is the new dashboard will make an impact on this concerning trend. 

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