Objection to demand for fire safety data in Montreal nursing home

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Montreal opposition leaders will table a motion next week asking the fire department to disclose details of private seniors' residences that don't meet fire safety rules, after The Globe and Mail revealed last month that dozens of rules were violated with impunity.

“Owners and managers of seniors' residences must follow the established rules,” said Abdelhak Sari, public safety spokesman for the Montreal Assembly, the city hall's opposition party, in a video announcing the move on social media.

In Quebec, private retirement residences, commonly known by the French acronym RPAs, are housing for independent or semi-independent seniors that provide services such as meals and nursing care. They are run by private operators but certified by local health authorities.

Mr. Sari will propose at Monday's municipal council meeting that the fire department release a “full portrait of RPA compliance” sometime this year.

The presentation should include the percentage of non-compliant RPAs, the number of fire safety fines issued, a review of non-compliance controls and details of evacuation drills, the motion said. It also asks the fire department to provide “its guidelines for revising a new hazard coverage plan” for the city, which hasn't been updated since 2008.

Quebec defines a risk coverage plan as “a planning process to ensure the fire safety of an area and to plan interventions.” The province requires them to be renewed every five years.

Mr. Sari's proposal refers to a Globe report published last month that found more than a quarter of Montreal's RPAs will not meet fire safety requirements by 2023, such as modern alarm systems and sprinklers. However, only a part of it was on trial.

The Canadian Press also found last month that a quarter of all RPAs in the province are still struggling to meet sprinkler requirements after a fire at a seniors' residence in L'Isle-Verte, Que., killed 32 people.

According to Statistics Canada, seniors over the age of 65 have the highest rate of fire deaths. Mobility restrictions that prevent rapid evacuation mean proper planning and safety standards are critical to saving lives, says the Quebec government's 2021 fire safety guide for nursing home managers.

49 of the 187 Montreal ARCs had inadequate means of evacuation. According to internal documents of the fire department, only six of them were brought to court.

Violations of fire safety regulations can result in fines and remedial orders, such as ordering property owners to install additional equipment, carry out work or evacuate the premises.

A similar situation occurred in other fire prevention areas: 42 RKAs had substandard alarm systems, 26 substandard sprinkler systems, and 24 substandard fire safety plans.

But only three residences are facing lawsuits over sprinklers, and seven over substandard alarm systems. None faced any consequences for failing to comply with fire safety plans.

Fire safety plans – evacuation procedures and other emergency measures are required in a variety of locations, including hospitals, schools, movie theaters, detention centers, and some office and residential towers.

As the Globe previously reported, in 2009 the Montreal Fire Department stopped inspecting fire safety plans in many of its required locations. It was one of several actions Montreal fire officials took after last year's deadly fire in the city's historic district, where poor fire control may have contributed to the deaths of seven people. A Globe report put the fire department in the spotlight, and several lawsuits against the city began.

Gonzalo Nunes, a spokesman for the city of Montreal, said last month that he could not provide an updated schedule of non-compliant RPAs, but that the fire department “will monitor each of the proposed files and take appropriate measures to ensure a return to compliance. »

At a city council meeting on Jan. 23, Mr. Sari asked Alain Vaillancourt, who is in charge of public safety on the Montreal Executive Committee, about the number of non-compliant RPAs. Mr. Vaillancourt said he did not have the numbers.