Ottawa firefighters to visit homes on Sundays in June to check smoke, carbon monoxide alarms

When was the last time you checked your smoke alarms? We discuss the importance of smoke alarm safety with Leanne Labbee from Ottawa Fire.

Firefighters will be visiting homes in Ottawa on Sundays in June to ensure your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are installed and working.

The Ontario Fire Code requires that homes have a working smoke alarm on each floor and outside each sleeping area. A home that has an attached garage, wood stove or a fuel-fired appliance is required to have a carbon monoxide alarm outside sleeping areas and on each floor.

As part of the Wake up! Program, firefighters will visit homes every Sunday in June, offering to inspect and test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

“You don’t have to let us in your house if you don’t want to, but we’ll be there with fire safety information,” Leanne Labbee, Ottawa Fire Services fire prevention officer, told CTV Your Morning Ottawa.

Firefighters will visit select residential areas between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Labbee says homeowners should check the alarms once a month and replace the batteries once a year.

“Testing them is so simple.” Labbee said.

“You can do it in one of two ways. So, you’ve got either your test button on your alarm that you press and it will emit a loud noise. You’d press your test button and that will set it off. Or you could light a birthday candle, blow it out, and hold the smoke underneath to make sure it’s activating as well.”

Labbee adds that you if you hear three beeps, “that means that it’s working.”

“Three beeps is always smoke. You have a combination alarm, you’ll have three beeps for smoke, four beeps for carbon monoxide.”

Labbee says you should install a new alarm every 10 years.

“Smoke alarms really are a life-saving device,” Labbee said.

They’re required by law in the province of Ontario, and according to the Fire Code, you must have one on every level of your home and outside of all sleeping areas.”

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