Fatal Fires Break Out in TCHC Buildings

In the space of just over two weeks there have been two fatal fires in TCHC units. On December 22nd 2007, a mother and her two children perished when their townhouse near Keele St. and Sheppherd Ave. burnt to the ground. The Ontario fire marshall said that there were two fire alarms in the unit. According to TCHC, the alarms had recently passed an inspection and they were programmed to notify TCHC if they were not working. This obviously did not happen. On January 7th 2008, in the same area in another TCHC building, a 74-year old man died and 5 others were treated for smoke inhalation after a 3-alarm fire broke out in his 1st floor unit. The Ontario fire marshall said that if sprinklers were installed in both cases, the fires could have been prevented.